Harry's POV

We make it to the doorway and I see Beth is no longer reading as Jamie is asleep on her and Nick is indeed in the same room as her.

I glance over at her to see her quickly put her phone down next to her as she looks up and sees Chloe and I together, an upset look on her face.

But she quickly masks it with a smile when she spots Chloe and I.

What on earth was she looking at?

Did she get some sort of message from someone perhaps?

"Why do you two look like you're up to something?" she asks us.

"I bet Harry that Nick would be here with you," Chloe giggles, "now he has to pay up."

"That's a bit cheeky," Beth replies, "especially knowing that's a sure bet you'll win."

What?

The little bugger!

Beth shakes her head and smiles at us.

"What are we going to do now Harry? It's getting cold in here," Chloe suddenly asks, turning around and cuddling me around the waist as she rests her chin on my stomach and looks up at me.

It is starting to get a little chilly now that the power has gone out.

And it's only going to get colder until the power is restored and who knows how long that could take.

I look over at Nick sitting on the couch under a throw rug.

That's it!

A blanket fort.

Harold you genius.

"I know what we can do," I say, "come on," I wave my hand for them to all come and help.

They follow me into the kitchen where I point to the dining chairs.

"Take one of those in," I ask Nick and Chloe and they go and grab one each and take them into the sitting room.

I continue walking over to the cupboard in the hall and open it up.

"Can you please grab a few blankets and bring them in?" I ask Beth, giving her a kiss on the lips, "and maybe some pillows?" I decide to go in for another kiss again before leaving to help set up.

I grab a broom from the kitchen on my through and walk into the sitting room.

I tiptoe over to Jamie and see he's still asleep but notice Beth has left her phone next to him on the seat.

Should I?

No Harold, her phone's private.

But you know she won't tell you.

But it's...

Fuck it.

I grab her phone and press the button and see a picture of her farm.

Well I'm assuming it is.

It's bloody huge.

I swipe the screen and turn around to Nick and Chloe to see if they know her passcode but I'm surprised to see she doesn't actually have one.

I'll have to speak to her about that.

She hasn't closed off where she was reading and straightaway I'm looking at Twitter.

Fucking Twitter.

And then I see the photos of us and realise she's been reading through the comments.

Why do people have to be so fucking nasty?

I ignore a lot of it, but she wouldn't be used to something like this.

I scroll through and I smile when I see some of my fans defending her and telling others to leave her alone.

Bless them.

I suddenly hear footsteps and I quickly whip the phone around my back and put it in my pocket just as Beth walks in.

Shit that was close.

Nice save Harold.

"Oh great!" I say, realising how long she'd taken, "what kept you?"

"A heap of stuff came out with them, had to put them back in," she replies.

I gotta fix that cupboard one day.

"Yeah, that happens a lot," I say with a nod of my head, "anyway, grab a blanket guys," I ask Nick and Chloe as I take them out of her arms, ignoring the look on her face and giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Pillows?" I ask.

She nods and walks back out to get them for me.

I quickly pull both her phone and my phone out of my pocket and send a photo I took this morning of us to her phone.

Well...

She was kind of asleep when I took it and I tried to pretend I was too.

She just looked so perfect when I woke up to her and I wanted to capture that forever.

So I did.

I go into Beth's phone and change her lock screen to the photo I just sent.

I want her to see what I see when I look at her.

And I hope it cheers her up a bit after what she read about us on Twitter.

Satisfied, I put the phones back in my pocket and start constructing the blanket fort with Nick and Chloe, who cannot contain her excitement.

She holds the broom while Nick and I position the chairs and throw the blankets over the top of them and the couch.

And it looks pretty good to me.

And to Chloe, judging by her squeals.

"Chloe can you keep it down!" Jamie suddenly says, clearly not happy with being woken up.

"Sorry mate," I say and walk over to him, "the power's gone out so we decided to make a blanket fort to keep warm for a bit. Thought we could watch a dvd with some snacks?"

"Yeah I'm hungry," he replies, and stands up from the seat, clutching the blanket as he heads over to the fort, "good idea Harry," he says as he passes me.

I hear Beth returning with the pillows and I walk over to help her with them.

"Mum, look what Harry made for us!" Chloe says excitedly, making both Beth and I jump.

Christ that kids got a set of lungs on her.

I take the pillows from her and pass them into the kids and then gesture for Beth to crawl in.

She really does have a nice ass.

Ooh I almost forgot.

No.

Beth's ass made you forget Harold.

I go and grab some bags of chips and bottles of drinks before grabbing my laptop on the way back.

"Thought we could all watch a movie together to pass the time while we wait for the power to come back on," I say to the others as I wriggle in next to Beth.

The kids sit the laptop between them and finally start to watch Kung Fu Panda and personally, I don't care what I watch, I'm just happy being here with them.

They start giggling away, firmly focused on the film when I decide to give Beth back her phone, so I gently nudge her in her side.

"Here," I whisper, "you left this on the seat."

"Oh...thanks," she replies quietly, gently taking it from my hands.

Okay.

You got this Harold.

"You know none of it's true," I whisper and she looks away from her phone and up to me, "well except for the bits about how cute we are together and that you are a lovely person and also the bit where you seem perfect for me..."

"Hmph," she rolls her eyes at me.

Gee, I wonder where Chloe gets it from?

Then she suddenly looks right at me.

"Did you look at my phone?" she asks.

Yes.

I am the fan and the shit is about to hit it.

"You looked upset by something on it and I probably shouldn't have looked on your phone but I'm actually glad I did and you can get mad at me if you like but I don't like to see you upset and if I can change that then I bloody well will and if I have to look at your phone then so be it," I quickly say, "you know, not all the time, just then, because you were upset," I finish then wait for the inevitable.

"Are you finished?" she asks me.

And she actually doesn't look angry with me.

Well, in for a penny out for a pound.

"Actually no," I say and I lean down to kiss her before nuzzling my nose with hers.

"You're beautiful to me and that's all that really matters," I begin, but then I think for a second, "actually, it really doesn't, it should only matter to you what you think of yourself, but I just want you to know what I think about you."

Then she smiles shyly at me and I know I'm in the clear.

It still confuses me how she can be so confident at times and then retreat back into herself like that.

And it's those kind of horrible comments that will push her further into herself if I'm not careful.

"Unfortunately there are some weird and nasty people out there who hide behind their screens and you have to try and ignore them and focus on the good things in your life," I raise my eyebrows, "like me."

Then she giggles and it's the sweetest sound.

"But I like to tell you what I think, I want to tell you because you deserve to have someone tell you these things," I say.

And if I could throw her down and give her the biggest kiss, I would.

She looks back down at her phone and accidentally touches a button, causing it to light up.

Yeah.

About that...

"When did you take this?" she asks, looking up at me.

"This morning," I grin, "I love waking up to you like that."

She looks back down at her phone.

She was fast asleep, a beautiful look on her face so I tried to mirror the same action, lying next to her with my nose touching her cute little button one, but I couldn't keep the smile off my face as I did it.

"That's how I see you," I whisper.

She doesn't say anything and she doesn't need to.

I lean in and kiss her temple before resting my forehead against it, relishing the fact that she is my girl.

"Hey remember when we had spaghetti and meatballs and mum put the pasta over her mouth like a moustache and then the dinner plates on top of her head and said, I am Master Shifu?" Jamie says and they all start laughing hysterically.

What?

I try not to laugh at the vision but I fail.

"Really?" I ask.

"Yeah," Jamie says, "it was hilarious!"

Speaking of spaghetti...

"You know, I've got some meatballs..." I whisper in her ear and promptly receive an elbow in my side, but I keep going, "and about the sauce..." I smirk.

Beth shakes her head, trying not to laugh and pretending to ignore me as she looks at the screen.

I pull her closer to me, tucking the blanket tighter around us before giving her a kiss under her ear in her sensitive spot before nipping at her earlobe.

Just to tease her a little but she actually jumps a bit.

"What are you jumping for?" Chloe says, "it's not like it's a scary movie mum," she shakes her head and rolls her eyes at Beth.

I try unsuccessfully to suppress a giggle but it's useless.

Beth pulls the blanket up over her shoulder and turns her body away so her back is to me.

Maybe she really has had enough of my shit now.

But then I feel her hand on my thigh and it shoots right to my dick and straightaway I'm getting hard.

Now this is totally inappropriate even though the kids can't see but they're right there.

Then her hand moves up and over my dick and she squeezes it and oh my fuck.

Little Harold is already straining against my jeans and I'm quite sure Beth doesn't realise the effect she has on me.

Fuck me.

Then she takes her hand away from me.

What the fuck?

"Beth..." I struggle to maintain my breathing.

"Chip?" she smiles at me and offers the bag to me.

Okay.

Beth 1 Harry 0

"No thanks," I say through gritted teeth as I try to wish my boner away.

Then she pats me on the knee and smiles, returning her attention to the screen.

"You're not playing fair," I whisper, knowing it's not a potato chip that I want to eat right now.

"I wasn't playing," she whispers back, "now watch," she points to the screen.

Fuck me.

I let my head fall back onto the couch and try to readjust my jeans as inconspicuously as possible.

Maybe I should just duck up to my bathroom and rub one out quickly.

But then she wins and it's like I've got no self-control around her.

Okay Harold, focus on the screen.

We spend the afternoon watching movies until Jamie's stomach starts to grumble along with the rain, the thunderstorm now gone.

"What's for dinner?" he asks, "I'm hungry."

Of course you are, son of Niall.

"Good question," Beth replies, "Harry?"

They all turn to me with expectant looks on their faces.

Waiting for me to make the decision.

I feel like I'm in charge of the family here.

"Why don't we go out and get something to eat?" I suggest, "not all areas lose complete power around here during blackouts. Why don't you all go and get your shoes and jackets and we can go."

"Yay!" all three kids chorus and they scramble out to get themselves ready.

Beth starts to follow but I grab her by her hips and push her onto her back, laying my body on top of hers as I desperately kiss her. She obliges me and wraps her leg around my thigh, her tongue touching mine, causing me to thrust my hips against hers, a groan escaping from her.

I suddenly remember where I am and reluctantly pull away from Beth.

"I've been wanting to do that for the last couple of hours," I murmur.

"Sorry you had to wait so long," she grins and kisses me again.

I could stay right here and do this all damn day.

"Ewww! Get a room!" I suddenly hear Chloe say, "can't you wait and do that later...alone?"

My PA is all over this.

"I bloody hope so," I whisper and give a small thrust against Beth before I roll off her and crawl out with her behind me.

We all walk into the kitchen where we put our boots on before I grab my own coat, wallet and keys before opening the front door.

Shit.

I look at the rain coming down and curse myself for not thinking to park undercover for them.

"Sorry I didn't park in the garage," I say.

"Mum where's your coat?" Chloe asks.

Beth pulls a face when she realises she's forgotten her own coat, too worried about everyone else.

"I'll run up and grab it and meet you in the car then," she says as the kids and I prepare to make a run for it to the car.

We bolt as fast as we can and jump into the car in a fit of laughter as we wait for Beth.

"Hey Harry," Nick says, "wanna have some fun with mum?"

I turn around and look at him.

"What do you mean?" I ask.

"Do you want to do something that drives her mad?" he says.

Of course I don't, but he does have me curious.

"What are you talking about?" I ask.

"The radio..." he begins.

"Oh yeah the radio!" Chloe laughs along with him.

"Mum hates that!" Jamie says loudly.

"Hates what?" I ask them, totally confused.

"When mum's driving in the car, the volume always has to be on an even number," Nick explains, "she hates it on an odd one."

"Why's that?" I ask.

"Don't know," Nick shrugs his shoulders, "she just does."

I see the front door open and Beth standing there, shrugging her coat on.

"I dare you to do it Harry," Nick says.

"No, I'm not going to do that to her!" I say.

"Go on!" says Chloe, "it'll be funny!"

"You're too scared to," Jamie says.

"I'm not scared, I just don't want to do that to your mum," I defend myself.

"Go on," says Nick, "you know you want to..."

Beth opens the door and straight away we all stop talking.

She looks at us with a knowing look on her face though.

She knows.

I quickly reverse out and we start the drive into town.

I glance in the rear view mirror and see the kids all grinning at me.

Well, it would be a bit of payback for earlier I suppose.

I reach out and gently touch her knee with my hand.

"Music?" I ask, and I hear someone snort from the back seat.

"Yeah, sure," she answers as she looks out the window.

An Ellie Goulding song comes on causing Chloe to yell and Beth and I to both jump.

"Oh I love this one! I love this song!" she gushes, "can you turn it up please Harry?"

Here goes.

Beth instantly turns her head and watches me as I move the volume control to 13...14...15.

I'm sure her eyes widened just the slightest then.

Her hands start to fidget with themselves as she looks back out the window before curling her hands into fists.

"I don't mind this one either," I agree as I try to act natural and hum along.

Beth's hands run up and down the tops of her thighs as she glances over to the radio again, and now her knees knock themselves together nervously and she puts her hands between her thighs in an effort to stop moving them.

She lets out a huff and slowly reaches out and adjusts the volume to 16.

The kids start to laugh hysterically in the back and admittedly I start to silently laugh, hoping not to draw attention to myself.

But she looks over to me and I know I'm caught.

"You knew!" she says in disbelief and now we're all laughing out loud at her.

"I'm glad you find this so amusing," she huffs in her seat and I reach out and put my hand on her leg.

My poor baby girl.

"You're all as bad as each other!" she shakes her head but I see a smile playing on her lips.

I'm sure I can make it up to her later.

"Awww...love..." I grab her hand and kiss every one of her fingers as the kids giggle in the back.

We soon reach the town and see that the blackout hasn't affected the businesses here.

"What about Chinese?" I suggest.

"Sounds good," Beth agrees and I pull into a park a few doors down and we all hop out of the car and walk towards the restaurant, my arm around Beth's shoulders while Chloe holds onto my other hand.

Well this is certainly a nice feeling.

I suddenly feel Beth tense up and I realise it's due to some people trying to take pictures of us with their phones.

I lean down and kiss her temple in reassurance, especially after what she read today, just as we reach the doors of the restaurant.

"Harry! Harry!" I hear my name being called, "can we have a picture please?"

I don't even get a chance to say anything to Beth as she says she'll meet me inside and takes the kids in with her.

"Hi Harry," one of the girls says shyly.

"Hello there," I reply with a smile.

"Can we get a photo with you please?" she asks.

"Sure," I bend down and give my usual peace sign for the first girl and then the second.

"Was that...was that your girlfriend then?" the other young girl asks me.

"It was," I reply, waiting for their response.

"Oh," she looks disappointed, "I wanted to get a picture with the two of you."

I smile at her words.

"Well she's a bit protective of her kids, you know?" I explain.

"We didn't think of that," she replies, "but thanks for taking a photo with us."

"No problem," I reply.

"You two look good together," the other girl says as they wave and walk off.

Yep.

We sure do.

I walk in and find them seated, looking over the menu.

"Sorry," I apologise.

"What for?" Beth replies, "it's your job."

Yeah but...

Well okay then.

"What do you all want to eat?" Beth asks the kids.

Nick and Jamie easily pick out what they want, Chloe, not so much.

"I don't like anything on here, can I just have prawn crackers?" she asks.

"No," Beth says, "you can have them later but you have to have something proper."

"Ohhhhhh," Chloe rests back in her chair with her head hanging back and lets out a dramatic groan as she flings her arm over her face.

"You can have some peanut satay sticks," Beth instructs her, "and some of my chicken okay? Then you get your prawn crackers."

Chloe sits back up and gives her mum a glare.

"But not if you carry on like that, you won't," Beth tells her and it's then I'm seeing the serious side of parenting here.

"Okay," she sighs loudly, before receiving a kiss on the cheek from Beth, which doesn't fail in putting a smile on her little face.

We place our orders and sit back and wait.

"They wanted a photo with you too," I blurt out.

"What?" she replies.

"Those girls," I say, "they were disappointed you weren't in the photo."

She's quiet for a minute.

"Were they genuinely?" she asks.

"What do you mean?" I'm confused by her question as I take a sip of my drink.

"What I mean is, are they disappointed they couldn't have a photo with me because they were genuinely interested, or because I'd be quite the trophy shot on social media?" she replies.

Shit.

I hadn't thought of that.

But I certainly didn't get that impression from those young girls.

"Look, I'm not trying to be harsh or demean anyone," she begins, "yes there are genuine fans, no doubt about it, but there are also those who will do anything to get that shot of you that no one else has and watermark the hell out of it before they post it, they don't care about boundaries. You probably don't have much of a say in that but I do, because I'm not you," she continues, "and I'm not trying to talk myself up, but I'd be stupid to think that no one wants to know who the hell I am right now."

Wow.

I sit back in my chair and look at Beth, realising how much thought she's really put into this.

"I'm just being honest Harry," she says, "I have them to consider," she nods her head at the kids, "you just have to be patient with me with who and when I choose to have a photo taken with, okay?"

Of course I can do that.

I'd do anything for her.

"I guess I hadn't quite thought of it that way," I admit.

"Why would you? You're used to all of this, we're not," she replies, "we need time."

"Of course," I say, "I would never ask you to do something you're not comfortable with love."

"Baby steps," she reminds me of our earlier promise.

"Baby steps," I reply, smiling at her.

~~~~~~

"Would you like a glass of wine before bed?" I ask Beth.

The kids are asleep and the fire is now crackling along nicely in the lounge and it would be nice just to sit together and talk before bed.

"Sure, that would be lovely," Beth calls out from the lounge.

I pour a glass of red for myself and white for her and take them in.

She's resting against one end of the couch so I take the other after handing her the glass.

I playfully tap her feet with mine and she pushes back, a grin on her face.

She takes a sip and looks at me, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Do you miss touring? Being with the boys?" she asks me.

Well I wasn't expecting that question.

But Beth often surprises me with the things she asks or observes.

"Of course, it's all I've done for the last five years," I reply as I take a sip, "but at the same time it will be good just to sit back and reflect on how far we've come and what we've achieved."

"Absolutely," she agrees, "your dream really did come true."

"Mind you," I say, "I have found something that has unexpectedly occupied my time and thoughts," I smile as my foot taps hers, "but surprisingly and pleasantly so."

Again she manages to blush and looks down at our feet.

"What about you?" I ask in return, "do you miss home and work?"

I'm curious and almost scared to hear her answer.

"To be honest I haven't really had time to think about it," she muses, "a rather tall, dark and handsome man has been distracting me."

Now it's my turn to blush.

"You think I'm handsome?" I raise my eyebrow at her and try to act all nonchalant.

But she sees right through me and rolls her eyes at me.

"Of course you are Harry," she smiles.

She thinks you're handsome Harold.

Beth 1 Harry 100

"Well the feeling's mutual," I say.

Cause I think she's so damn beautiful.

"You think I'm handsome?" she says with a straight face, "gee, thanks Harry."

What?

Bloody smartass.

"No!" my eyes widen, "I mean, I think you're beautiful."

"Ssshh," she points her finger at me and blushes again.

Yeah I can't sit here while she's looking like that at me.

I put my glass down and move towards her, giving her a gently kiss before turning myself around and settling myself between her legs, resting my back against her chest as I reach for her legs and cross them over my lap.

Beth wraps her arms around my waist and I hold her hands in mine, entwining my fingers with hers as she rests her chin on my shoulder.

"Seriously though Beth," I lean my head onto her cheek, "do you miss it all?"

"Yes and no, I suppose," she replies, "they were incredibly supportive to me when Heath died. I mean, research can take you anywhere in the world if you want it to, but it also allowed me to work from home a lot so I was never away from the kids," she explains, "they've also offered me a lecturing position later in the year which I'm really excited about."

That means she's definitely returning home.

I can't help but feel incredibly sad about that, but I try not to let it show.

But then Beth kisses me on the cheek a couple of times so maybe I didn't do a particularly good job of hiding it.

"But it's been really good having a break from it too," she continues, "like yourself I guess, when you return to the band you'll be feeling renewed and ready to pick up where you left off and feel the joy and happiness it brings you all over again and although you know you missed it, it will make you realise just how much you love it but you needed that break to really see it."

She sounds so passionate about it, just how I am about singing.

How could I keep her from doing what she loves?

It's just...

I love her just as much.

"You really do love it don't you?" I finally say.

"Contributing to teaching and educating others?" she replies, "absolutely, like One Direction is for you and how it connects with your fans."

Wait a minute.

Did she just say...

"But it's something you can do anywhere right?" I ask her again, just to be certain.

"Yes," she replies, "that's also why it works so well for the kids and I, the flexibility."

That gives me an idea.

That this could maybe, actually, work out.

It would take some groundwork on my part.

But it could maybe be enough.