Adopted

Red Rover, Red Rover

"What did Papa tell you," Liam asks. His uses his sleeve and wipes under Harry's red eyes and nose.

"He wants me to make Loulou a picture."

"Oh, Louis will absolutely love that," Liam says. He unbuckles Harry from his carseat and picks the boy up with his hands under the boys armpits before wrapping him around his hip. He grabs Harry's diaper bag and puts it on his unoccupied shoulder.

Harry circles his arms around Liam's neck and buries his head in his own arms. They walk up the sidewalk and enter through the gate. The sunshine yellow building looks inviting, but nothing is more inviting to Harry than being in Louis' presence.

Liam walks them through the door. There are three adults standing near the entrance. Two of them are big men that mommies and daddies know are security guards, but the littles are told they are happy helpers. The third is a skinny blond woman. Her name is Louise and she's Harry's favorite helper.

She instantly notices Harry's red eyes and goes over to the boy.

"Hey, Beb. Why the long face?"

"Don't wanna be here," he mumbles into his daddy's neck.

"Oh, Harry. It will be okay! Know why?"

Harry shakes his head.

"Because all of your friends are already here and they've been waiting all week to play with you," she says.

He looks slightly less upset. "Weally?"

"Yep! Niall was just telling me how much fun you two are going to have today!"

He's still hesitant and clinging onto Liam more than he has in ages.

"Go see your friends, Little One," Liam tells Harry and sets him on his feet.

His green eyes look up at his Daddy in fear. "Be back soon?"

Liam lightly smiles and nods. "Just a few hours. Now, go say hi to NiNi for me and make Louis his pretty picture!"

"Okay, Daddy," Harry whispers.

Liam engulfs the boy in a hug and presses as many kisses as he can to the top of his head before pulling away.

Harry turns away from Louise and Liam. He can't bare to say good bye right now with the tightness in his throat.

His daddy turns to the helper. "Call me if you need anything at all," he says nervously.

She chuckles, "Honestly, Li, you sound like it's his first day here. He'll be fine."

"Yeah, I know. I just haven't seen him this upset in at least a year," he says more to himself than the blond.

"He's with friends now. You know a few minutes with them is all it takes to turn that frown upside down," Louise encourages.

The man sighs because she's right. He needs to stop worrying because Harry is a very adaptable person. In fact, it could be harmful to Harry if he worries so much because it could hold his baby back from thriving. But Harry means more to him than anyone or anything else in the world. From the day he had come into their household, Liam knew that he was never going to find somebody who meant as much to him as the boy with dimples.

Louise and Liam exchange goodbyes and he hands over the diaper bag. Giving one last look around, he sees Harry standing with his in a corner with his shoulders hunched. Niall and two little girls are surrounding him. He sends a kiss through the air that Harry will never know about but Liam just wants his baby to receive as much love as possible. He leaves with a guilty conscience, but he is still a bit excited to go home and see what his newest little thought of his first excursion out into the world.