VALERIE // Harry Styles

I.

The pink balloons keep bumping into everything on your way down the hallway, they even snake around some random dude's neck and you almost choke the poor guy in your rush. You keep mumbling your sorry every time they hit someone in the head, but you're not even paying that much attention. Your top priority now is to find the room you are looking for.

You almost miss it, so as you stop so suddenly you slide on the checkered floor before you step back and finally see your sister in the room, holding her little angel in her arms, Steven standing at the end of the bed, the proudest smile on his face you've ever seen.

"Oh my God!" you whisper walking in, the balloons bouncing as they bump into the doorframe. You drop the little weight that holds them down and they finally rest in the corner of the room before you step to the bed where your sister is sitting with your niece in her arms.

"Rosa, she is gorgeous!" you gasp as the little baby scrunches her nose before turning her head to the side a bit, as if she wants you to see her better.

"Right?" Rosa sighs, so in awe of her daughter.

Rosa always told you she will surely be the kind to go through labor pretty slowly, so when she called you that her water broke she said you had time to get to the hospital. You were still in work, told her you'd be there in two hours at max. Fifty minutes later Steven called you that she is here so you dropped everything and hopped into your car to rush to the hospital as fast as possible, but the afternoon traffic slowed you down enough to make the thirty minutes drive turn into one hour. But all the road rage you had while stuck in the car is now long gone as you watch the pretty face of the newest addition of your family.

"Mom is on the way too, she'll be here any minute."

"You were so fast, Rosa! What happened to having at least a 3 hours long labor?" you ask her with wide eyes and she just shrugs.

"I honestly don't know. My doctor always told me it would take me a long time to dilate because my organs are kinda squished more than for others so it takes time to get... arranged," she explains gently shaking her head to get her fallen out strands of hair out of her face and you are quick to help her and tug them behind her ears. "But then I guess she figured it out quicker than we expected her," she chuckles sharing a look with Steven who is still standing there, looking out for her two girls like a guardian.

"I really thought she would just slip out right in the hallway," he chuckles and you grin at him, that quickly turns into a grimace as you imagine the scene.

"Gross," you breathe out turning your attention back to the little one. "So what was the name you settled for?"

Rosa and Steven had a long list of names they couldn't decide on and even just a few days ago when you talked to her on the phone she was still coming up with new ones.

She glances at Steven before looking at you with a proud smile.

"Her name is Valerie Y/N Whiting,"

You gasp, feeling your eyes tearing up when you hear that she got your name as her second name. Rosa never told you it was even in the cards to name her after you, so it took you by complete surprise.

Growing up Rosa and you were as close as possible, basically like twins even though you had an age difference of four years and that personality wise you have always been so different. But in a way you two made each other whole and it made you the closest of sisters. You did everything together and the first time you had to spend more than just a few days apart was when Rosa started college in a different state. Adulthood has slowly set into your life and forced the two of you to separate, but you two stayed close even with your busy lives, talking on the phone almost every day no matter what. You were the first person she told to that she is having a baby and you started crying happy tears as the two of you sat at brunch. You've been buying her all kinds of baby stuff all the time, probably half of Valerie's closet is from you, but you just couldn't help yourself, excitement took over you that you would finally become an aunt. The fact that she even has your name as her second name just takes your breath away even more.