Maybe we can (L.S.)

28

As the weekend went by, Harry grew more and more restless. Sure, Louis had assured him that the appointment with social services was just protocol and that they would help him but this didn't mean that he wouldn't have bad dreams about them taking Sam and Emma away from him every time he fell asleep. Besides, Louis said that before seeing him drunk in a club when he should have been with the kids.

Monday morning was no exception. He woke up sweating and crying and it took him a while to notice the weight that was lying on his chest.

"Monkey..." He mumbled, slowly calming down.

On Saturday night he had decided to put Sam's crib in his bedroom, because he still woke up a couple times at night. Yesterday, he couldn't fall asleep, nervous about the appointment, so he let Emma sleep with him in his bed and then, he could finally fell asleep.

"You sad" Emma whishpered, cuddling   even closer to him.

"Oh, monkey... I'm not sad. Not when I've got you here with me" Harry replied hugging her to his chest.

"You cry... You sad" She said lifting her head to look at his face.

"I know, love. I'm just scared. I love you so so much..." Harry replied, bringing his thumb up to wipe a tear that was trailing down her cheek.

He then rolled out of bed and back, now with a whimpering baby Sam on his arms. He swayed him a little, watching fall asleep again and put him down again between him and Emma.

"Let's go back to sleep, monkey. It's still early" He said before kissing both of them on their foreheads.

...

Harry woke up to Sam crying. Emma also awake, caressing him and trying to soothe him. He smiled at the sight and looked at the time on his phone. They still had some time until they had to be at the ECAC.

"Sam sad" Emma said when she saw Harry was awake.

"Hmm... I think he's just hungry. Will you help me prepare his bottle?" Harry said climbing out of bed and putting his prosthesis on before taking Sam in his arms.

"Me do bowtle!" She squealed getting out of bed and out the room.

An hour and a half later, they were waiting at the bus stop at the end of their street. Harry was growing impatient because the bus was late and he really needed to be on time today.

Jus as he was about to start panicking, a car stopped in front of them. It was Liam.

"Hey, mate! Were are you going?" Liam shouted after rolling the window down.

"Hi. We have an appointment for Sam at the ECAC at 10, but the bus hasn't shown up yet" Harry replied scratching his neck.

"Oh! Mikey's got one too. Come on then we'll turn around to get their car chairs and we'll go together. We'll be there just in time" Liam smiled motion for them to get in the car.

As Liam said, they arrived just in time. Sam's first appointment was with the neuropediatrician. He asked Harry some questions about Sam's development and made some tests on him. Soon they were out the door with an appointment for a MRI scan of Sam's brain. The doctor was good but Harry felt as if he couldn't understand anything he said. He just used words he had never heard before.

Once he finished, he told Harry to wait outside until they called him for his next appointment. The appointment. The one he was dead scared about. Social services.

"Go home?" Emma asked, already bored.

" Not yet, monkey. We still need to see someone else. You can go play for a while, though" Harry sighed, slumping on the chair in the waiting room.

Just then, Liam and Mikey appeared just then and offered to take Emma to the park nearby and wait until he was finished to take them all home.

By the time it was time to enter the room, Harry was shaking like a leaf with Sam clutched to his chest as if trying to prevent anyone from taking him away.

The woman was nice. He couldn't remember her name but she seemed somehow familiar. Something about her made him calm down a little. She kept reassuring him that she wasn't there to take Sam or Emma away from him but tu help him. However, Harry couldn't help feeling like all the answers he gave to her somewhat intrusive questions were the wrong thing to say. After what seemed like an eternity, she accompanied him to the door and told him that they would have another appointment soon and that she was here for anything he may need.

Once he could make his way outside, he sinked to the floor, his back rested on the wall just beside the door. He  started sobbing, still holding Sam tightly. He felt overwhelmed because some of the questions involved the kid's mum. He hadn't been prepared for that but he couldn't cry in there. He had to be strong, but he wasn't. He was scared. So so scared...