who's your daddy ; h.s.

extra #1: harry tells the kids the truth

this is just how i imagine things happening! requested on my tumblr @inyourhaven!

Harry tried not to think about it.

He tried to avoid thinking about the fact that one day, he would have to look Lottie in the eye and tell her that her best friend was also her half sister. He tried not to think about the way Lydia would look at him–or the questions that would arise. Or the look on both of their faces when they realized why things were the way they were.

In fact, Harry dreaded having to have this conversation with his kids. They'll hate me. He'd told himself. They'll never look at me the same. And for the most part, Harry tried to be as honest as he could without telling them the facts of the situation. When Elliot would ask why his mother and father got a divorce, Harry would give him the short and sweet, "Your mom deserved better than me." and it was enough. It satiated the hunger for the full story, and allowed them to move on to the next topic. But Harry was not naive, and knew one day, someone was bound to follow up. And while he knew he could act casual about the whole thing, they deserved more than that.

*

It started when Liv texted him last week, letting him know that it was time for them to start thinking about what they were going to do. Lottie had come home that day–upset once more that her English teacher called her Lydia. It had happened their entire lives. They had been called by one another's names on plenty of occasions, but Lottie wasn't Lottie at school. It was Charlotte. And the only reason anyone got them mixed up was because of the fact that they looked so alike. It was true, and it was something Harry had resented because both of his daughters looked so painfully related to him, that now he would have to point out that it was not just a simple coincidence. When Liv gave him further information on the situation, letting him know that a boy had asked out Lottie on a date, thinking she was Lydia and she came home early, crying. Harry knew it was time to call Dylan and figure out a way to sit down and get together.

*

It couldn't be in public, so they settled for Olivia's house. Kat had given Harry her best, and although Harry begged for her to come for moral support, Kat simply kissed his shoulder and let him know that he was strong enough to do this on his own and that no matter how upset they got, at the end of the day, he was their father (or uncle, really. But, did labels matter anymore?) and they would eventually come to accept it, and love him no matter what. Because Hary had changed, A lot. And in the year he had been remarried, he found new ways to better himself each day he was alive. Because he wanted to be the best man he could for his own kids, and the two twin boys, no older than Elliot that Kat had brought into his life. He was not the same person he was all of those years ago with Thea–he was more sure of himself now. And he just wished he could tell him children how sorry he was that he was selfish enough to put any of them through this.

He arrived an hour before the kids were set to come home from school. The room was quiet, other than the chitter chatter coming from Dylan and Liv on the other side of the sofa. Thea was sat a few feet away on the loveseat in the corner, staring off into the fabric of the chair. This was harder for the two of them than it was their counterparts. While Liv and Dylan were simply caught in the crossfire, Harry and Thea were the ones to blame for it all. Which felt like dry swallowing a huge pill. Harry–specifically–felt like his biggest humiliation would be his kids thinking that he was a liar, or that he was not the man they knew him to be. That each memory throughout their childhood would be tainted by the fact that a colossal secret was looming over them, and they never noticed it's shadow.

"Mom! We're home." Lottie called from the front door, stopping in her tracks with Elliot and Lydia behind her. Lydia had just gotten her license, making Lottie impatient and pressuring Harry to start looking at cars with her for when it was time for her to begin her driving career, and while Harry understood, he just wanted to hold on to her just a bit longer. She was only 15–but Harry felt like he could remember the day she took her first steps in the master bedroom of their first family home. She was growing up, and it was time for the truth to come out. "What's going on?"