Family Ties

Alive

Hannah's POV

I watched as Harry anxiously paced around in the living room, running his fingers through his hair as he did his best to calm his nerves, but we both knew the reality was that he just didn't want to have the conversation. He'd been avoiding it for months, and the time had finally come for him to just suck it up and tell his sister.

"Maybe it's too soon, the baby is only a few weeks old. Maybe I should wait." He said, trying to rationalize putting it off.

"Harry, you said you wanted to wait until the baby was born. There is never gonna be a good time to have this conversation. She has a right to know, you have to tell her." I reminded him.

He had finally somewhat decided that it was time to tell Gemma about Gucc. Originally, he had planned to tell her s few days after we had visited him and he had digested it, however he promptly talked himself out of it by saying he didn't want to add any stress to her while she was pregnant. He didn't want the news of their father being alive and well to put her or the baby at risk, so he'd decided it was better to wait until after the baby was born.

Baby Harry was now three weeks old, and he had been showered with nothing but love and attention from the day he was born. The twins were over the moon that there was another baby to play with, and Gemma and Liam were settling into their lives as parents. Big Harry was now trying to convince himself that telling his sister what she deserved to know would now only disrupt that peace, and I knew if he didn't tell her today he never would.

"I just...what if it just fucks her up? What if it's too much, and it just brings everything up? She's so happy, Han. I don't wanna take that away from her." He sighed as he sat down beside me and buried his head in his hands.

"You have to stop this, babe. You said it yourself, you and her see things differently. She has actual memories of your dad, good ones. Maybe she'll be happy to know."

"Her memories are of a man that doesn't exist anymore. He's a criminal now, I don't want her thinking things are different and trying to bring him into our lives."

"That's her choice, Harry. You can't just keep it from her because you think it's best. That's not your decision to make." I said firmly.

As if on cue, we heard the front door open and Liam and Gemma called out to us before they appeared in the living room.

"Hey." Gem smiled. "Where are the kids?"

Liam followed behind her, carrying the baby in his little seat before he put him down on the coffee table and looked down at Harry. Luckily, Harry had been smart enough to give Liam a head's up in an effort to have more support for Gemma, but he hadn't told him much more than the fact that Gucc was alive and Harry knew where he was. Liam didn't have all the details, but he knew enough to know that it was gonna go one way or the other.

"Niall and Liv took them to some indoor park in the city, we're trying to keep them busy since school is out for the summer now." I smiled, being reminded of just how much work it was to keep them occupied when they weren't at school during the day.

"Oh, well that should be fun." Gem shrugged as she plunked herself down on the couch.

"Let me see this guy." I smiled as I went over to the baby carrier and started to unbuckle him. "Come see Auntie Han."

I scooped him up and cradled him in my arms, cooing down at him as I shot Harry a look, letting him know he just needed to get it over with.

"So, what's up? I thought we were having dinner?" Gem asked. "I'm starving."