The Future Is Now - Larry Stylinson

Chapter 18

After watching Anne put Annie and Luke to bed, Harry and Louis stood awkwardly in the doorway of the master bedroom as Anne went straight to the bedside table and picked up the baby monitor.

"Mum, what are you doing?" Harry asked with a frown.

"If she wakes during the night, I'll deal with her," Anne replied, turning and moving to give Harry a hug and then Louis.

"Anne, really, you drove all the way up here-" Louis started to protest, but Anne held up a hand to cut him off.

"No arguing," she said sternly. "Louis, you need your sleep because anyone with eyes can see you're stressed to the max. And Harry has never had experience with babies so he won't know what's wrong if she starts crying. Now goodnight, you two."

"Night, Mum," Harry and Louis said quietly at the same time, and Harry glanced over to the brunet with a hesitant smile as Anne slipped into one of the guest rooms and shut the door.

"Okay, well," Louis said softly, returning Harry's smile with a sort of shy one of his own. "Let me just get some clothes and I'll be out of your hair."

Harry blinked and watched him go over to a set of drawers, pulling them open. "Wait, you aren't sleeping in here?" he asked incredulously.

"You have no idea who I was this morning, I'm not going to make you sleep in the same bed as me," Louis answered, pulling out a pair of pyjamas.

"No, I meant- I just thought I'd be in a guest room," Harry said awkwardly. "It makes more sense. You're used to sleeping in here and I'm not, so..."

"I don't want to sleep in here unless you're with me," Louis snapped, slamming the drawers closed. When he saw Harry's alarmed expression, he looked guilty. "Sorry, I just need some sleep. I'm a bit high strung right now."

"It's okay," Harry said softly.

Louis went over to a different set of drawers and pulled open the second drawer. "This is where you keep your pyjamas. You usually don't wear them, but just in case you feel like it," Louis said, turning and giving him a small smile. "Your toothbrush is the orange one in the bathroom, you'll probably be able to find anything else you need. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Lou?" Harry called as the brunet started towards the door.

Louis turned and gave him a curious look. "What?"

"I, uhm," Harry shifted nervously and hung his head a little. "I'm sorry I can't remember you. I know its probably really upsetting and all."

When he looked up Louis was staring at him with a sad smile. "It's not your fault, Haz," he said quietly. "Sleep well."

Harry didn't sleep well at all.

_-_-

Liam turned out to be one of those people that worried about every little thing. Almost as soon as he was through the door he gave Harry a hug and asked him a million questions about how he was feeling and if he remembered anything, even just a little inkling or a feeling of Déjà vu. He tried to baby Louis, make sure he was okay with his husband not remembering anything at all, but Louis got fed up with it after ten minutes and told Liam to make himself useful and take Luke out for ice cream.

Anne was still with them and she'd given Harry a rundown of how her life had been in the last ten years, and Harry was a little surprised to find out he had a stepfather. Louis had told him that he got along well Robin, so he guessed it wasn't a bad thing.

Harry and Louis were sitting in the nursery with Annie, Louis rocking her in the old looking chair in the corner and looking frustrated because the baby was just screaming her head off instead of going to sleep like she was supposed to.

"Maybe we should just let her stay up," Harry said helplessly, watching Louis try to shove the pacifier in Annie's mouth for the fifth time only to have her spit it out within seconds.

"We gotta have a routine and stick to it," Louis said, shaking his head and sighing. "If we let her get away with it she'll do the exact same thing tomorrow. She needs her sleep."

"She'll tire herself out with all that crying, right?" Harry asked, watching as Annie's face turned red.

"Probably," Louis sighed, standing from the chair and going over to Harry, who was seated on a plush yellow couch beside the window. "Here, take her. See if you can't get her to sleep."

Harry was a little hesitant but he really loved babies and even if she was crying, he'd been wanting to hold Annie for the past hour now. Louis gently placed her in his arms, showing him how to hold her properly, and then took a step back.

Annie startled a little at the change and she looked at Harry's face, taking one deep breath as if she were going to scream again, but Harry just smiled at her and whispered "hello," softly, and she shut her mouth.

"You've got to be kidding me," Louis hissed, rubbing a hand over his eyes. "Why does she scream when I hold her? She hates me, I swear."

"She doesn't hate you," Harry replied automatically, stroking his finger down the baby's face. She was so tiny compared to him he had to make sure to be extra gentle because he didn't even know his own strength in this new body and he didn't want to accidentally hurt her.

"She still likes you more than me," Louis muttered, but he looked more relieved that she'd stopped crying than annoyed.

After a few minutes of gently holding Annie and whispering to her, she finally dropped off and Louis smiled softly at him. "Should I put her in her crib?" Harry asked quietly, staring at the sleeping baby in his arms.

"Yeah," Louis whispered, nodding his head and helping Harry stand while holding the baby at the same time. Harry laid her down gently in her crib and her little face screwed up but she didn't wake and eventually her features smoothed out. Louis tucked her in tightly and leaned down to kiss her forehead before grabbing Harry's arm and pulling him out of the room. "She'll probably sleep for an hour or so, if we're lucky."

Harry smiled at him and Louis grinned, looking relieved and happy. He reached up to brush a couple of curls out of Harry's eyes but he froze halfway, smile vanishing. "Uhm," he said awkwardly, arm dropping and the happy look in his eyes disappearing. "Let's go check on your mother then, shall we?"

"She told us to stay out of the kitchen," Harry objected, following Louis who'd turned and started for the stairs and trying to ignore the disappointed feeling in his gut that the brunet hadn't touched him.

"Its our house, honestly," Louis replied, rolling his eyes. The moment of awkwardness passed and things started feeling normal again, especially when Louis shot him a small smile.

"Yeah, alright," Harry said after a moment, almost tripping over himself because he hadn't been paying attention. "We'll go check on her then."

"That's the spirit," Louis said brightly, clapping him on the back and heading down the stairs.

_-_-