A Young Mum: Luke Hemmings

Chapter 39; Hometime

Three days later and I've finally recovered mentally from the shock of the birth and the aftermath. It already feels like Freddie has been in my life for years, I already know him better than myself.
Everyone is coming round Luke's house today to celebrate his birth, including my parents. They haven't seen him or me yet and the social worker called me saying they would like to see us. Maybe Freddie has made me grow up because I realised I need to stop being petty and allow them to be grandparents to Freddie. For sure he's gonna be spoilt, with the boys and Ally, Luke's family and mine, he's got tons of people to help him out.

"Are you nervous?" Luke says as he strokes Freddie's cheek on his bed and looks down at him.

I've been staring at the two of them for the last 20 or so minutes as Luke has been affectionately stroking a sleeping Freddie's cheek.

"Not really, I feel...different now Freddie is born. Older. More wise." I say and he nods.

"I feel the same, although we do live with my parents which is a bit shit." He laughs and I nod.

"At least they're offering, my family aren't even offering open arms." I say.

"Yeah well you've got us, and that's all that matters." He hands me Freddie as he starts to mess around with his hair.

I watch Luke closely and think about how much my heart swells whenever I think of him. It's only been nine months but it feels like forever since I've known Luke.

"Love you." I say.

"Love you too." He says, raising his eyebrow curiously but I don't say anything else.

I'm ready in no time and have Freddie dressed in the cutest outfit as well. Although we're dressed up, both Luke and I look shattered which is quite funny and I know all our friends will see the comical side of it.

It's Calum who arrives first with Ally in tow and the first thing she does is grab Freddie from my arms and hold him close to her, his precious crying settles down and I smile at Ally.

"Magic touch?" I say, referring to before and she smiles.

I can see her emotion in the way she looks down at him, all of us stare at him lovingly but Ally looks completely in awe.

A knock on the door makes Freddie burst into tears again and Ally hands him to Calum to settle down as Ashton comes in with Michael ranting about some bitch in the McDonald's drive through.

"How're you feeling?" Ashton gives me a hug and I shrug.

"Well how do I look?" I laugh and Ashton makes a face.

"As beautiful as ever?" He almost asks and we both burst out laughing.

Freddie is passed around to everyone and everyone has the exact same reaction when they hold him. It's magical how a little human with no held traits is such a joy to everyone around it. I smile whenever I see someone holding him, proud to say he's my son.

"He looks so much like Luke." Ally says, smiling down at him.

She doesn't direct the comment at me, instead looking up at Calum and smiling with tears in her eyes. He rubs her shoulder and smiles back at her, glancing at me once and then retrieving his hand, clearly embarrassed of his affection. I just smile because at this point I think it's clear that something is going on between them two or at least something will in the near future.

My parents chat to me for a while, keeping it civil and being nice but I'm too caught up in Freddie and Luke to really focus on them at the moment.

It's shocks me when my mum says "I'm so proud of you Frankie. I know it's been a tough journey but you've done well. Without our support a lot of the time and we're truly sorry about that."

My eyes widen and I cough to hide the choke in my throat. It's safe to say I never thought those words would come out of my mums mouth, especially regarding everything that's happened over the past few months.

"Well Freddie is all that matters now so what's happened in the past stays in the past."

I take my baby back into my arms and hold him tight against my chest, appreciating the warm feel of him against me. I feel Luke hovering behind me but he soon departs when there's a knock at the door. I hear deep voices and then watch as he trails into the room with a confused look on his face.

"Toby?" Ally gasps, immediately leaping off of Calum's lap.

"Hey Ally. Hey all." He smiles down at Freddie and then looks at me.

"Can we help?" Liz says, politely but firmly, she has the common knowledge that Toby is bad news so I see her guard come up straight away.

"I'm just here to say congratulations on the new addition, here's a little present for him." He places down a little gift bag on the table and I look at him in shock.

"Thanks Toby." Luke says awkwardly.

"Apart from that I'm just gonna go. But as I said congratulations." He smiles awkwardly.

"I'll see you out." Ally leaps up and follows after him, leaving everyone else in the room in shock.

"I'll go and prepare the food." Liz says, Andy follows after her after taking everyone's drink orders and everyone else continues into their own conversations.

"Weird one." Luke shakes his head.

"He's definitely here to see Ally." I sigh.

"She said she's done this time." Michael shrugs.

"And how many times has she said that?" Ashton questions.

"Guys give her a break. It's not easy to walk away from someone you love." I say.

"Brilliant." Calum sighs.

Ally is ages and everyone's half way down their drinks by time she comes back.

"You okay?" I immediately say to her, allowing her to grab Freddie from me and give him a kiss on the cheek.

"Yeah, just catching up." She says and I raise my eyebrows.

"As long as it's just that." I state.

"Yeah."