GREEN (RL Harry Styles fanfic)

82. Yellow Brick

**Harry's POV**

There's something about the passing of time that's truly magical. It has the ability to fool you. Minute by minute, and even day to day, it feels like nothing has changed. Then one day you look back and see just how much has really changed; how much you've evolved when it felt like all you were doing was watching a clock.

But sometimes we fool time right back. We prove there are some things that no duration of time can touch. It's like picking up a book you hadn't read in months and falling back into the story just as deeply.

When you see that familiar face again everything falls right back into place. And in the case of Liv and I, we somehow turned back time. We reset the clock to where we were before things came unwound.

After a few days apart I flew back to the states. I knew I couldn't go back to LA, things just weren't settled enough. I wanted to give Liv the space she had asked for. I wanted to give her whatever she needed and everything she wanted. So I went to Chicago. I spent my days between tour dates at SoHo house reflecting on my relationship with Liv.

It struck me that the last time I was here I was with her, and it was a high point in our relationship. She had just told me she was pregnant with our child and I was thinking about my future with her. We had never been happier, and that was saying something because Liv always made me so happy.

Even when she was walking away from me to catch a plane because I had let her down, I still knew she made me happy. I still recognized just how much she meant to me. And I knew deep down I meant just as much to her.

It was a week. A full week before I saw her face again. Seven days since I last kissed her pout, the pout I was responsible for. Seven nights since I last touched her swollen belly, that too I was also responsible for. I wrapped my arms around her and held her in silence. It was long enough to be awkward, but neither of us cared. We just let our bodies reconnect, our hearts sink back together in the same rhythm, as if they had never lost time with one another.

In that moment, we both recognized the shift, the resetting of time, though we've never discussed it. I had planned a heartfelt spewing of apologies and an appropriate amount of groveling, but it seemed unnecessary. Not because she wasn't worth it, but because we were ready to move forward.

And that's what we did, with a big step forward. Liv had flown to meet me in Chicago because the next day I was to meet her parents. Not only meet them, but tell them I had impregnated their only daughter. I had performed in front of record breaking crowds, met royalty, and been grilled on live television, but none of it was as nerve wracking as meeting her parents.

I wanted them to like me, I wanted them to trust that I would take excellent care of both their daughter and their grandchild. I wanted it to go perfectly.

Hank and Kathryn greeted me warmly with open arms, literally. Her mum hugged me like I was one of her own, so warm and genuine in her excited affection. Her father shook my hand firmly and patted my left bicep as he introduced himself and glanced at Liv with an approving smile he thought I wouldn't catch.

Liv's parents had picked us up from the small airport where we went completely unnoticed, even with our hugs and handshakes outside the gate. Nearly every time I was in Green Bay I went unnoticed, which I quite enjoyed. It was a small, quaint town and no one seemed to bat much of an eye at another person in a Packer's jumper. Well Liv did find it hilarious that her father had on the same jumper as I did. I was happy it seemed to score me some points with Hank.

I helped load our luggage in the car, though we only had a duffle each for such a short stay. I didn't want Liv lifting anything, so I took her bag and Hank insisted on taking mine. I opened the rear passenger door for Liv and let her slide in to make room for me beside her.