I Wish... (One Direction Fan Fiction)

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

*Harry's POV*

I was awoken suddenly from my nap by a high pitched wailing noise coming from the baby monitor perched on the table beside me. I sighed, rubbing my eyes to try and wake me up a bit. I looked over to see Zoe snuggled into me, lying comfortably with her head leaning on my shoulder, but she began to stir as our baby's cries began to get louder. Her eyes flew open, and she shuffled slightly, making a move to get up.

"It's okay darling, I'll go see to her," I said to Zoe, and she looked like she was going to protest but I was already up and half way across the room.

"Just go back to sleep!" I told her sternly.

I hurriedly made my way up the stairs, anxious to get Avery to stop crying as soon as possible. I pushed open the door and was met with Avery standing up in her cot and clinging onto the edges. As soon as I entered, she stopped immediately, and a small smile grew across her face.

"What's wrong baby?" I asked, walking over and picking her up out of her bed. She didn't do anything excpet strech her arms out towards one of the soft toys she left behind in her cot.

I leant down to retrieve it, and placed it into her welcoming arms. I watched with content as she began playing with it, babbling to herself things that no one could understand. I glanced down at my watch, realising it was only about half past 9 at night. She had been put down about 2 hours before, but like most babies, she was pretty unpredictable. Sometime she would sleep through the whole night without a sound, but more often than not, she didn't.

"Do you want to go and give your Mummy a quick hug?" I asked her, exiting the room and shutting the door behind me.

Sometimes, I wish that Avery was my REAL daughter. I know I'm as good as a father that she's going to have, but I just want it to be natural, in her DNA. I'm never going to regret Zoe deciding to have the baby, but there's moments when I look at Avery and just see Robert staring back at me. Thankfully, she takes more after her mother than her father, so we aren't constantly reminded of that monster daily. I suppose it would have been worse if she was a boy. I don't know if Zoe's ever going to tell Avery about her real Dad, but I'm not going to stop her if she wants to. One day, I plan to have a child with Zoe. One that we can call completely ours. But not until Avery's a bit older, and not until I've made Zoe my wife.

It was early December now,  which meant Avery was over 8 months old. It's scary how time flies, and it's scary how quickly she's growing up. Me and Zoe have adapted quite well to our new family life, and I tried to be at home as often as possible. When I wasn't, she would have her Mum come round to help her out, which was perfect for all of us.

We hadn't really had much bother with the press or the fans either, which we were all extremely grateful. One magazine did ask us to do an exclusive photo shoot with them not long after Avery was born (offering us an extortionate amount of money), but we declined. Whenever we were out and about and saw fans they had been really nice and understanding, and careful not to crowd us or anything. And nobody had mobbed the house. We have been a bit sleep deprived, but that's not unexpected. And that's why I wasn't surprised that me and Zoe had both fallen asleep whilst watching Jaws on the TV.

"Remember Avery, you need to be a good girl tomorrow when your Mummy's out, okay?" I told her as I trudged back to the living room, even though she wasn't paying attention to me in the slighest.

Tomorrow was Sophie's hen night. It was also the first night that Zoe will have spent apart from Avery since she's been born. 8 months is quite a long time, but Zoe's just anxious to be without her. She's a very protective parent, she's even worse than me and that's saying something.