Run To You | Daniel Howell Fan Fiction

Chapter 5

The next day started with Hudson giving me a wet sloppy kiss on my cheek. Any mother can agree this has to be one of the best and worse ways to wake up. I giggle as Hudson wraps his arms as tight as he can around me. "Morning bud. Whats for breakfast?" I say as I tussle his beautiful brown curls. "Cereal I thinks mum." Hudson jumps off my bed and runs to the kitchen getting into his chair ready for his bowl of cereal. 

I place the bowl and spoon in front of my son when my phone starts buzzing. "Hey hun. Just wondering if you can come into work today. Kinda an emergency." My manager Jake says from the other end of the phone. "Uh, I don't know if I can. My nan is away for the week and shes really the only person who can look after Hudson." I say looking at my son while he enjoys his bowl of cereal. "Shit. Okay, uh, are you sure? We're just so short staffed today cause Sarah called in sick and Alexis is on leave. So only me and Sam are in store." Jake said, sounding at his wits end. "Look, I'll call someone who might be able to take Hudson. No promises. I'll let you know." Jake sighed with slight relief. "That's all I ask for babe." 

I hang up the phone and dial Dan. I really didn't want to ask him a favor this early on but it seemed like it had to be done. "Lily?" Dan says, obviously after being awoken from my call. "Hey, uh, can you look after Hudson for a few hours for me today. Please. An emergency has come up at work and they need -" 

"Of course! I'd love to." Dan says, cutting me off mid-sentence. "Thank you so much! We'll be there in 20." I say as I hang up and get both Hudson and I organised. 

***

"Thank you so much for coming in. Seriously saved my life." Jake said as he makes coffee. "Hey its fine." I begin to put on my apron and proceed to clean the cake displays. "So who did you get to look after Hudson?" Jake said, obviously the curiosity getting the better of him. I hesitate to tell him because I wasn't really in the mood to tell him a long winded story about Hudson's father. But I cant lie or avoid subject very well. "His father has him for the day." I say coyly, keeping my head down and pretending to concentrate on what I'm doing. "Jake stops frothing milk and looks at me. 

"You've never spoken about your baby daddy." He said giving me his full attention. "Jake. Milk." He turns away and continues frothing milk for the customer at the register. "There we go ma'am. Have a lovely day." Jake hands the coffee to the woman and eyes fall back on me. "I didn't even know Hudson had a daddy."

"Jake, I know your gay but I didn't think the concept of "How babies are made" was totally lost on you." He lightly slaps my shoulder and continues to look at me, demanding I give him the whole scoop. "Look, Hudson's father and I broke up before Hudson was born. We decided to break up because his career was progressing and a girlfriend was too much for him. A week later, I found out I was pregnant. But I didn't have the nerve to tell him." 

"So how does he know now." Jake said, obviously really invested in my story. "We ran into each other at a coffee shop that my nan likes and I had Hudson with me. So I told him." I continued cleaning as Jake was wide eyed. "So his career, what does he do? Lawyer? Real Estate? Male Stripper?" I laugh as Jake continues to list careers I could never see Dan doing. But it was also an awkward laugh because I really didn't want to tell him what his career was. "He's a, uh, YouTuber. He makes videos on YouTube and makes money off it. It's actually quite a financially good career of you're successful."

Jake just stared. "A YouTuber? Which one? Is he a big one? Like famous?" I turn and blink at Jake, shocked at his answer. I was expecting more of a "Hahaha real funny." or a "He's homeless isn't he?"

"His name is Dan Howell. And I don't know. I haven't really followed his career after we broke up. But when we did he almost had one million subscribers, so I guess he is famous." Jake drops a coffee cup and looks at me with utter shock. "No fucking way." He said. "NO FUCKING WAY!" I become confused as Jake starts to pace back and forth through out the shop. "You're telling me, the father of your child is Dan Howell. As is danisnotonfire."

"Wait, you watch YouTubers?" 

"Fuck yes I do. And your baby daddy is my favorite one." I stand in shock as I find out more and more about my manager. I knew Dan had a fan base but I thought his fan base was mostly 15 year old girls, not 29 year old gay men. "Oh haha. Okay" I say awkwardly. No knowing what to say. 

***

The work day ended somewhat smoothly with Jake still gobsmacked that Dan Howell was Hudson's father. But I promised him one day I would bring Dan to the cafe to meet him. I got in my car with pizza for Dan, Phil, Hudson and I as a thank you for looking after him with such short notice. I knock on the door with pizza and garlic bread in my hands for everyone. The door flies open with Dan and Hudson in superhero capes whooshing around. "Mummy!" Hudson says as he attacks my legs with a hug. "Hey bud. Did you have a good day with Dad?" I smile up at Dan and mouth a thank you. He then smiles and scratches the back of his neck and mouths no problem back.

"Whatcha got there?" Dan asks as he motions to the pizza in my hand. "I thought maybe I'd bring pizza around as a thank you and we could eat as a fami-" Suddenly a voice interrupts me from upstairs. "Dan? Who is at the door?" The voice was unfamiliar and 100% not Phil. A tall red head with blue eyes walks down the stairs as if she was in slow motion. "Brie! This is Lily." He said, pulling the red head close to him. A pang of jealously hits me like a bullet but I needed to learn to be happy for Dan and suppress what little feelings I had for him deep down. "Oh hi." I stay. "You're son is beautiful. Obviously a spitting image of Dan." Brie says as she kisses Dan on the cheek. "Well yeah. He is. I wouldn't want it any other way." I say smiling down at my son. "Yeah. Maybe it's a good thing he doesn't have much of you in him." I stop and look at her, "Excuse me?" I say hoping I misheard her. "Maybe its a good thing he looks a lot like Dan." I stand there shocked. Not knowing if that was meant as an insult to me or an amazing compliment to Dan. 

"I think he has all of Lily's best features." Dan says, trying but unsuccessfully to break the tension. "Right, well here are your pizzas. We better get home." I stay handing the pizzas and garlic bread to Dan. "I thought we were all going to eat together" Dan say obviously confused as to why I was to eager to leave. "I would love to but I have work early in the morning and Hudson's had a big day so you guys enjoy. Thank you for looking after him today." 

I grab the cape off Hudson's back and hand it to Dan as he hands me Hudson's day bag. "See ya" I smile and wave at Dan and Brie and walk out of the building, fighting off the tears that threaten to fall.