be there || h.s.

six

Harry woke up the next morning with dry crust on the sides of his eyes, feeling dehydrated. Then he remembered the 15 minute crying session he had with himself before bed. He just couldn't get over the fact that Liam bought the exact same present he got Eden. He thinks it was a douche move, but he can't help but be angry with himself because if he would've let Liam share what his present was, Harry could've bought Eden something else. Harry was so overprotective of his daughter and all he wanted to do was give her the best first birthday party ever, but that wasn't the most important thing on his mind right now. Today was the day he would meet Amelia, properly, for the first time in 7 months.

He didn't feel the need to impress her, due to his inward feelings and grudges against her, so he took a short shower, threw on some basketball trousers, a hoodie, and a beanie. He had called Niall to come watch Eden while he was out for most of the morning. He heard someone ring the buzzer downstairs as soon as he unplugged his phone from the charger. He didn't want to yell because he didn't want to wake Eden up, so he ran out of his bedroom and down the stairs as fast as he could to answer the door.

"Hey. Come in," Harry said trying to catch his breath.

"Did ya run a marathon?" Niall said walking in and plopping himself down on the couch.

"Basically," Harry said putting both hands behind his head and taking some deep breaths. He must've been pretty exhausted to be tired from simply running downstairs to answer the door.

"So, I know what Eden's usual routine is, but is there anything new or specific I need to know?" Niall said switching the telly on to the morning news.

"No, I should be back in about 3 hours or so," Harry said checking the clock on the kitchen wall, "and Eden should be up in about a half hour or so," he said checking his watch.

"Okay, don't get too drunk, alright?" Niall said turning his head to direct the statement towards Harry.

"Alright, mate. And don't eat all of our food. Those leftovers from the party are supposed to last us until Sunday," Harry said grabbing his keys off of the key rack and shutting the front door behind him.

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When he arrived at Nandos, he sat in the back corner. It was a table for two and Harry had ordered a water because he felt a little nauseous from being dehydrated and needed to calm his nerves. He didn't understand what he was nervous about at first, considering he has no emotional attraction to this woman whatsoever, but then he assumed it was because of the conditions she wanted to propose when it came to Eden's life and her being involved in it.

Harry heard the bell ring that signals someone has entered or left the restaurant for probably the eighteenth time today. He looked up from twirling his straw in his drink and saw her. She was looking for Harry and found him once he raised his hand up and signalled her over. She dropped her purse by her chair and greeted Harry.

"Hey."

"Hi," he said clearing his throat.

"So how was her party?" she asked motioning a waitor over to their table and softly whispering the drink order to him.

"Fantastic," he said knowing good and well that Liam ruined the whole experience for him, but he had to set his negative feelings aside for Eden's sake.

"Wonderful, wish I could've been there," she said already trying to create a tension between this meet-up.

"Could've been where? The party, or in the NICU the night she drowned?" Harry said adding more awkward to the situation.

"Listen, Harry. I didn't ask to meet you to argue over what happened. I know I screwed up, I was high, reckless, and had no concern for the safety and well-being of our child. For that, I am truly sorry," her eyes began to gloss.

"Whatever, it's going to take more than sorry, but this is a healing process," he said making hand gestures.

"Right, it's a process. Well, the night I took off, I went to some cabin on the outskirts and smoked a few joints with my 'friends'. When I came to about 2 days later, I was alone. They had all left me for dead basically. I called my mum and asked her to take me to a rehabilitation center. I wanted to be sober because I never wanted to experience another feeling of abandonment," she said supporting her head in her hand.

Harry had all intentions of blowing up in her face and embarrassing her in front of the whole restaurant, but once he began to actually listen to what happened, he wanted to know how she went from a drug addict to a seemingly decent person.

"So I went there from April to August and they released me. I'm still on some medication for my ADHD because that can cause a risk of relapse, but I'm completely clean. I applied for a teaching job in the beginning of August at Holmes Chapel Comprehensive and they gave me a job two weeks ago, so I guess you could say they had some mulling over to do before they let me teach there," she said with a laugh in the last sentence while sipping her drink.

I gave her a small laughed as I twirled one of the rings on my fingers. "So, how's she been?" Amelia said folding her hands and placing them on the table.

"She's been great," he said instantly lighting up at the thought of Eden. "She's been taking a liking to fruits such as bananas, strawberries, oranges. Um, she hardly ever cries, except for when she doesn't feel well or gets the nightmare," he puled out his phone and texted Niall, asking him how Eden was doing.

"Wait, the nightmares? What are those?" she said with deep concern in her tone of voice.

Harry gave a disappointed sigh and began to fiddle with the hem at the end of his shirt. "The nightmare is the reoccurring dream she gets that she under water and can't get to the surface. She wakes up screaming, crying, gasping for air and I have to do everything I can to calm her down."

Amelia had never felt so overwhelmed with guilt before in her life. The mental image she had made in her mind of her daughter in those horrific states of fear and panic made her nauseous. She quickly wiped away the tear that escaped her eye before she gave it a chance to run down her face. "Harry, I- I don't- I-," she took in a sharp breath of air as she hiccuped from the urge to hold in her tears, "I have to go," her cheeks began to turn red as she picked up her purse and left money for her drink. "Wait, Amelia, it's fine. Let's keep talking," Harry said standing up from his chair, trying to convince her to sit back down and discuss the issues that have been waiting.

"We'll meet at another time, okay? This," she gave a brief pause to hold in the tears that were trying to escape, "this was a mistake," she said walking out of the front door with a charge.

{ Yeah, so sorry this is a short update, but I've been super ill. My apologies. But, besides the obvious reason, why do you think Amelia stormed out like that? Vote, comment, share x }