Half a heart

Chapter 1

Harry looked down at his beautiful daughter as she ran off the field. Her curls bounced in her ponytail and her blue eyes were shining bright. Scarlet Marie Styles.

"Hi daddy!" Scarlet smiled happily, hurrying towards him.

"Hi sweetpea!" Harry replied bending down to collect her in his arms. "Have a good practice?"

"It was great! The coach is teaching us a new move, says we'll crush the competition." She said releasing him.

Harry smiled proudly at her. Scar was special, she was a football prodigy. He knew where she got it from... but he didn't talk about that. As soon as she had been able to walk he often found her trying to kick anything round, a lot of the time landing on her cute little bum. She never quit though and soon she was kicking the small ball he'd gotten her with ease. His mum recommended he look into the football prodigy stuff and as soon as Scarlet started school at five she was accepted into a program. By the age of seven she was placed on a team. Now, she was a popular footie player. Kids from all over the U.K were brought in to try and get accepted on the team Scarlet was on.

Niall, Harry's best mate, began videotaping her games and posting clips on YouTube. At first Harry was hesitant to post them online; afraid his past would come back but after a year that worry slowly faded but remained in the depths of his mind.

*~*

"Harry I swear our girl is going to go pro!" Niall exclaimed as Scarlet scored the winning goal with only a second to spare.

"Our girl?" Harry chuckled. "I think you mean my girl, but yeah I agree." he smiled standing up and cheering.

Harry did often worry that maybe starting Scar in football so early had been a bad idea. He wanted her to have time to be a kid and footie took up a lot of time. However, whenever he would mention her taking a break from it she would give him a glare that reminded him of... him... and the subject would be dropped. She enjoyed footie and clearly had no intentions of giving it up.

"Daddy! We did it!" Scarlet exclaimed as she stopped in front of him and Niall, who was still taping them.

"You did darling!" Harry smiled as the team gathered around Scarlet. "Show em who's number one!" He cheered.

The whole team turned so their backs were to the camera, their names and numbers displayed, and turned their heads with smiles to glance back holding a fist in the air.

Other parents gathered around to get their kids and head to the after game party in the school. Harry remembered back when Scarlet had started school and they had gone to parent night. All the other students had both their parents there. Scarlet had looked around with a small frown but didn't say anything at the time. They went through the short event and then headed home. Harry pulled out leftover spaghetti and heated them up some before she said anything.

"Daddy?" Scarlet asked once he set a dish down for her.

"Yes baby?" Harry responded.

"Why did everyone else have two parents with them but I only had one?" She questioned frowning a little.

"Well..." Harry sighed squatting down next to her chair. "Most kids do have two parents..."

"So where's my other one? Don't I have a mommy? Jimmy and Sarah have mommy's." Scarlet pouted sadly.

"No, sweetheart, you don't have a mommy... you have another daddy..." Harry sighed; he knew this conversation would happen... just not so soon.

"Where is he then?" Scarlet asked.

"I... I don't really know baby. He... um... he hasn't been around for a very long time." He tried to explain. "I'll explain it when you're older... for now eat your dinner."