"This is probably the best chocolate chip pancakes I have ever had." Niall says between bites of the soggy pancake on his fork, his eyes wide in amazement as he looks down at his food. I shake my head in amusement, turning to look around the restaurant for Kaydence. Where'd she go? She said she was going to get more apple juice but that was nearly ten minutes ago. I gnaw on my lip in worry, leaning back in my chair to see if I can spot her from here at the food stations they have set up for the buffet. Nicole catches my eye across the table and subtly sends me a nod, telling me to go look for Kaydence and I don't need to be told twice.

I toss my cloth napkin on the table and slide my chair back, standing from the table and earning a few curious looks from people sitting nearby. I duck my head when a woman gives me a look of recognition and quickly stride to the back, towards the buffet. When I get there there's not that many people anymore due to everyone already sitting in the main restaurant eating, so it's easy to see that Kaydence is not at the drink station. I walk further towards the back stations and see her sitting in the corner, next to a table with muffins and cookies. She's sitting on a stool near the woman who's in charge of that table, making small talk with her but the woman doesn't seem to be listening to Kaydence. I walk over to her and stop in front of her just as she's taking a bite of a muffin and her eyes flicker up to meet my own, a guilty look crossing her features.

"What are you doing over here?" I ask, raising my eyebrow.

She surprises me by whimpering and taking another bite of the muffin. "I'm stress eating." She says with a mouthful and I have to bite my lip from laughing.

"Okay, why over here though?"

"I don't want you people watching and judging me while I do." She mutters, taking the last bite of the muffin and crumpling the wrapper in her palm.

"Are you sure you're not just trying to avoid having to tell the lads about your mum?" I ask her carefully, moving to take the wrapper from her hand and tossing it in the nearest trashcan. She pouts and crosses her arms over her chest.

"Maybe."

"Yeah, I figured." I try to laugh but when she doesn't join me I tug her arm away from her chest, threading my fingers through hers. She glances up at me curiously and I nudge her foot with the toe of my boot. "You have nothing to worry about, you can do this."

She sighs and slowly nods her head while I pull her hand, making her stand from the stool. I quickly turn around and grab a banana nut muffin along with a blueberry one, handing Kay the blueberry one and taking a bite of my banana one. She stares at the muffin uncertainly but I nudge her shoulder with my own. "One more won't kill you."

She mutters something incoherently but takes a bite from the muffin anyways, and I pull her along with me as I lead her back to our table. The lads look up when we near and I notice how Liam's eyes dart to my hand intertwined with Kay's. As much as I don't want to, I let go once we've reached the table, not really wanting to explain myself about what's happening between us just yet. Kay sinks down in her seat next to me, briefly glancing at the others as she places her muffin on the plate in front of her. I take another bite of mine and meet Nicole's gaze across the table. She's raises her brow in question and I shrug in response, nudging my thigh against Kay's. She looks up at me and once I nod for her to tell them her jaw tenses, but she turns to look around the table at them.

"So," Louis looks up from his plate, Niall watches her from across the table while eating, Zayn has his glass of orange juice to his lips, and Liam has his chin in his hand already giving Kay his full attention. "I guess I should probably mention where we're headed."

"Colorado, you have family there right?" Niall says after he finishes chewing.

"Um, well yes." She pauses, reaching with her forefinger to pick at her muffin. "But they don't know I'm coming. Well, she doesn't."

Zayn puts his glass down, placing his elbows on the table and leaning forward. "She? What do you mean?"

"I..." She stares at each of them individually but her gaze seems to rest longer on Liam, who gives her a small smile in reassurance. "My mom. My birth mom, she lives in Colorado." She whispers and Nicole raises her eyebrows in shock, not cause of the news since she already knew but because she was telling the others.

"Your mum?" Louis asks. "I thought she passed away..." His eyes meet mine in confusion but I press my lips together. This is Kay's story to tell, not mine.

"My adoptive mother did," She sighs and leans back in her chair, her hand tucking her hair behind her ear. "My biological mother is alive."

"You were adopted?" Niall asks loudly and we all shush him at the same time, Liam smacking him in the back of the head. He winces and hunches over in his seat, his eyes darting around momentarily to see if anyone not sitting at our table is watching. "You were adopted?" He whispers harshly and Kay's mouth tugs at the corner in an amused smile.

"Yes, Niall. I was."

His eyebrows raise and Nicole rolls her eyes at him, a small smile playing on her lips. Liam and Zayn stare at Kay in understanding, and Louis throws his arm over Kay's shoulder. She glances at him and he pecks the side of her head and I have to keep myself from telling him to keep his hands off her. It seems Kay and Louis have developed this friendship, I know Louis doesn't like her that way especially when he has El but still. Other guys touching Kay, even these lads, makes me a bit uncomfortable.

"We've got your back." Louis reassures her.

"Oh," Kay flushes and shakes her head. "I don't want you guys to feel sorry for me, I just thought you should know where we're really headed."

Liam gives Kay an even look and shakes his head. "Either way we've got your back like Louis' says."

Zayn nods. "Yeah, you've got our support. You don't need to face her alone."

I smile proudly, thankful that the boys are supporting her through this. I didn't even have to ask but then again I knew they would be supportive about this. They like Kay, and they're good lads. I turn to Kay to see her sitting there with wide eyes, obviously a little surprised that they were so quick to comfort her. Louis squeezes her one more time before letting her go and she looks around the table with a grateful expression on her face.

"Thank you."

They all nod and I reach under the table for her hand, her eyes flickering over to me momentarily as I clutch it in mine. She shifts in her seat, her shoulder brushing mine and I know Liam notices how she seems to be sitting closer to me than she had been before. He gives me a knowing smile, his eyes teasing and I bite my lip to suppress my own grin.

"So are you nervous?" Louis asks, and Kay turns to look at him.

"Yeah." She breathes, her hand slightly shaking as he picks at her muffin again. She flicks a pieces of the muffin on the plate then begins tracing patterns on the table cloth.

"Don't be, you've got us lads there with you."

Kay smiles thankfully and Liam tells us we should probably head back up and check out so we can be back on the road. I nod, letting go of Kay's hand under the table before standing up and following behind Liam out of the restaurant. As we're walking out Liam is stopped and I look around him to see three girls asking for a picture, and before they can see me I grip Kay's wrist and drag her past them quickly. She looks surprised but once she sees the fans she follows me with out hesitation. I don't want more pictures of us getting out at the moment, not because I care what people think but because I don't feel like dealing with the hate I know will be thrown at Kaydence. I saw how she reacted yesterday to the comments under the photo someone had tweeted, and she already has enough to worry about today.

I look back to see the other have stopped to take pictures with them but Nicole hurries to catch up with us. I head towards the elevators and am thankful to see no one else is in them when the doors open. When we reach our floor I reach into my jeans pocket for the key, swiping the card in before the light turns green and I shove the door open for Kay and Nicole. Nicole whispers something to Kaydence and whatever it was seemed to make her blush, and her eyes briefly rest on me before she turns away and heads back to the room. I narrow my eyes at Nicole to see her smiling at me mischievously and then turns to walk to her room. I follow where Kaydence disappeared to, walking inside the room to see her stuffing the clothes she had thrown around earlier back in her bag. I move to sit at the end of the bed and watch her, since my stuff was already packed. Her hair falls in face every time she bends down to pick up a shirt and I have to force myself not to check out her ass whenever she does. It's not with out effort though, considering she's wearing a skirt that hugs her hips and thighs.

"Stop staring you're making me nervous." She suddenly says and I smirk at her back in response. I don't look away like she asked me too and she sighs in exasperation when she feels me still looking, that I laugh out loud. She turns around to give a glare but I see her mouth twitch into a smile.

"Don't you have some packing to do?"

"Nope," I stand from the bed and pick up one of her shirts lying in the corner of the room, folding it before handing it to her. "Unlike some people, I didn't toss everything out of my bag."

She glares at me before putting the last shirt in her bag, zipping it and pulling the strap over her shoulder. I follow her out of the bedroom and when we reach the living room area the lads are already there and ready to go. Nicole's sitting on the arm rest of the couch Niall is sitting on and he's leaning close to her, his arm circled around her waist and his hand resting in her lap. I narrow my eyes at them and when Nicole sees she stands from the couch, Niall's hand dropping away from her when she does. I will find out what happened between them later, one of them is going to tell me.

"You two ready?" Liam asks and we both nod our heads and everyone stands, while I move to get my bag from the corner of the room where I had put it earlier. I sling it over my shoulder and reach for the strap of Kaydence's, taking it from her. She raises her eyebrows at me as if to protest but I ignore her and carry both our bags on my shoulder, lightly pushing her out the door.

When we get downstairs to the lobby Liam mentions how he's going to check us out and to just go to the car, so the rest of us leave him in the Lobby. Niall fishes the keys out of his pocket and unlocks the back, setting his bag down before turning to grab Nicole's from her and putting it next to his. I raise my eyebrow in surprise and give Nicole a teasing smile, earning a blush from her in return. I laugh and she shoves me, giving me a scoff when she points to Kaydence's bag on my shoulder. Okay fine, she has me there.

After putting our bags down I move around the car to see Kaydence leaning against the back doors, her hands crossed over her chest and her bottom lip between her teeth. She won't stop chewing on it and it's clear her being nervous is getting to her again.

"Calm down." I whisper in her ear and she looks up at me with wide eyes. I almost flinch when I see how close her mouth is to mine when she does and her eyes flicker down to my lips. I have the urge to kiss her like I did last night, the need to kiss her is so strong but I remind myself to take it slow. Slow. I let my eyes linger on her mouth before leaning away from her and the look of disappointment on her face satisfies me, that I reach over and take her hand. I move our hands behind us so the others can't see and rub circles behind her palm with my thumb. She visibly relaxes and steps closer to me, her shoulder brushing mine. I keep caressing the back of her hand behind our backs and the others move around to our side. I pause to see if they notice but when I see they don't I keep rubbing Kay's hand and she subconsciously leans closer to me. That, they notice.

I drop Kay's hand when every one of their eyes land on Kaydence and I, their gazes narrowing. Kay freezes then moves to step away from me and Louis' smirks at the both of us, and I'm pleading with my eyes for him not to fucking say anything.

"I see what's going on here," Louis teases, pointing between the both of us. "I see it, don't think I don't. I'm on to you two."

I roll my eyes at him but Kay's cheeks turn a dark shade of red and Nicole stifles a laugh, which Kay glares at her for. Liam comes jogging out of the lobby and saunters over to us, his pace slowing when he sees how everyone is just staring at Kaydence and I.

"Did I miss something?"

"Nope." I say before the others can and push myself away from the car. "Let's just go already."

Liam stares for a second but then shakes his head. "Okay, so where to?"

"I'll drive first, since you all drove yesterday." Kay says but my eyes slide down to her shaking hands.

"I don't think you're really in the right state to drive." I mutter and her eyes flash over to me in defense.

"I'm fine."

"Er, yeah mate, doesn't seem like it." Niall nods to her hands and she looks down to see how they keep shaking.

"Oh," She blinks, then crosses her arms over her chest. "Okay, never mind then."

Liam smiles warmly at her and takes the keys from Niall. "I'll drive love, just give me the address."

Kay takes her phone out and shows Liam the address she has in her notes and he unlocks his own phone to put it in his maps. Louis looks over his shoulder at it and they both start discussing which route to take but end up choosing the shortest one his navigation gives him. Louis runs around to the passenger seat next to Liam and I stand off to wait for the others to climb in the far back, but no one seems to move.

I give Nicole, Niall, and Zayn a pointed look but Zayn shakes his head at me. "Nope, not today. You two can get back, I was stuck there all day yesterday."

I playfully shove him out of my way and he squeezes my bum when I move to climb up the car, swinging my leg over the backseat and falling into the middle one. Kay climbs up after me and she pauses, her face twisting when she remembers she's wearing a skirt.

"Dammit," She mutters then swings her head around to glare at the others waiting at the door for her to climb over. "Turn around, I'm wearing a skirt." She yells and they all laugh but turn their backs to her. She looks over at me and I arch my eyebrow at her, smirking and leaning back in my chair with my arms crossed.

"You look away too." She says and I shake my head.

"Not a chance, love."

"Harry," She wines and I laugh, but don't look away.

She grits her teeth when she realizes I'm really not going to turn around and she glances over her shoulder to double check the others aren't looking. When it's confirmed, she moves her right hand to hold her skirt between her legs together, moving to swing a leg over the back of the chair. Her skirt rides dangerously up her thighs and I'm so very thankful the boys are turned around for this because the sight is enough to give just about any lad a hard on. She clutches her skirt in her hands and ducks her head down as she slides in the seat next to me, lifting her hips momentarily to tug her skirt back down over her thighs.

I lean over and press my lips close to her ear and she freezes. "You're damn lucky we're not alone in this car."

She visibly gulps at my words and I smile when I see her close her legs, crossing them and tightening them as if she's trying to keep herself from feeling anything. The thought makes me want to take her right here but for fucks sake, I need to go slow. Calm down Harry.

"You done?" Zayn pokes his head in and I want to smack him for even bothering to look inside the car when asking that. What if she hadn't been done? He would of gotten a view of her ass, that's what.

"Yeah, sorry." Kay's voice comes out shaky and I grin to myself, knowing I'm the one making her flustered.

Zayn climbs inside, followed by Niall and Nicole. Liam hops into the driver's seat and once he turns the car on and sets the navigation down, he backs out of the lot. Everyone's talking loudly, cured from yesterday's hangover and completely filled with energy today. I am too but not because I actually got sleep last night but because I feel revived from Kaydence's presence. Last night made a lot of the weight I've been carrying disappear, and whatever was happening with Kay and I is definitely filling me with excitement.

I look down at her to see her hands fiddling together and it's obvious she's thinking about her mum again. I want to distract her somehow and I would spend this whole car ride making out with her if I could just so she wouldn't have to think about it, but that's obviously not possible. At least not now.

I briefly glance at the others to see they're paying no attention to us. I pick up a sweater lying on the seat next to me then grab Kaydence's hand, making her look up at me in surprise. I tug her by it to drag her closer to me, lifting her legs to place them over my lap. She lets me and I drape the sweater in my other hand over her legs, reaching for her hand under the sweater. She realizes what I'm doing and she moves her hand further under the sweater and lays her head back against the headrest next to me. I play with her hands under the sweater while she stares at me but I keep my gaze locked towards the front, not wanting to give away that my attention is actually on her hand. I keep tracing her fingers with my own and I can't help but grin when I hear her sigh happily.

"I'm so nervous." She whispers and I nod my head in understanding.

"I know." I whisper back and she moves her head closer to me, to where it's almost on my shoulder.

"Thanks." She squeezes my hand momentarily and I glance at the others again. When I see they aren't looking I slide further down in my seat, my knees pressing against the seat in front of me and lean over to peck Kaydence on the lips. Her eyes look at me with shock but before she can do anything else I move to lean my head back on the head rest. It was only a peck, it wasn't enough, but it will have to do for now.

"Don't worry yourself, take a nap."

She nods her head and settles against the headrest next to me while I keep my gaze on the ceiling of the car. Liam turns the radio on but not loudly, and I hum along to the song while I let my thoughts wander. I'm barely paying attention to what the others are talking about, and when I look back down at Kaydence after a few minutes, she's asleep and her head has fallen on my shoulder. With out thinking I lean over and place another kiss lightly on her lips, and when I sit back I catch Liam's eye in the rear view mirror. I inwardly cuss at being caught but the smirk and nod of approval he gives me makes me relax. I shake my head at him, grinning like a mad man. Whatever, It's not like I was going to be able to hide how I feel for much longer anyways. I love her.

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

Haydence is rising <3

Kay's going to come face to face with her mom really soon!! What do you think is going to happen when she does??

Also this story is officially entered in the Wattys 2015 so feel free to share it if you'd like!

Vote & comment your thoughts, hope you guys liked it (: