ROSES (Oli Sykes Fan Fiction) COMPLETE

PEACE OFFERING

I texted Oli and told him he could come over whenever he wanted, so he said he'd come soon, he was just out grabbing something to eat. I reminded him to bring my presents, to which he said they were already by his door ready to go. He was so organised! I guess he had to be with all of the moving around and living out of hotels he did.

Cass was in her room when Oli arrived just after 10:30am and Ivy was asleep in her cot. She would be due for a feed in about an hour though, and since I still had alcohol in my system, Oli could feed her with a bottle. He came in my door carrying all of my presents from last night in 2 big 'Four Seasons' bags; neatly packed and organised and much more manageable. He also came bearing gifts of his own in the form of donuts. "Is this your breakfast?" I asked with a chuckle. He just laughed. "No, no, I thought you girls might be hungover and need something naughty to soak up the alcohol." he laughed. How thoughtful of him, and can I just say how much I loved how he bought them for me AND Cassidy; that he had thought of her too. "Just looking at them makes me feel like I've put on 10 pounds, and I'm already out of shape." I laughed. Oli just kind of frowned at me.
"Are you kidding? You look amazing. I literally can barely believe you actually had Ivy just a month ago." he laughed. Ugghhh why did compliments from him always feel so good?!

Cassidy emerged from her bedroom and said Hi to Oli, so I quickly directed her attention to the donuts. "Cass, look what Oli bought for us!" I said. I hoped she wouldn't brush it off, I hoped she wouldn't make him feel like shit. "What is it? Oh no way! That's just what I need this morning. Thank you." she said as she took a donut from the box. "Oli, do you want something to drink?" she asked as she headed to the kitchen to put the kettle on. I tried to hide it, but I couldn't stop smiling at how nice she'd just been to him. Oli looked a little surprised too, and agreed to peppermint tea - the same thing she was making herself. "Could I go to your room and see Ivy? Just for a minute?" Oli asked like he'd been waiting to ask since arriving.
"Oh my God! I'm sorry, yeah, of course you can, you can bring her out if you want, she'll want to be fed in an hour." I suggested. He smiled massively and said he'd put my gifts in my room, and disappeared off to see Ivy. Without saying a word, I went to Cassidy and squeezed her. 
"Yeah, yeah, well I know I can't be a bitch to him forever." she said in defeat.
"Thank you." I said before kissing her cheek.

"She got so big!" Oli said brightly as he came back to the lounge with Ivy after being in my room for a few minutes with her, probably gushing and saying things he would be embarrassed to say in front of me and especially in front of Cassidy. We drank tea and we chatted about random things, mostly about last-night's party and how he had just turned up. It was only then that I remembered the huge bunch of roses on our table and that Oli had sent them to me. "Thank you for the flowers by the way." I said. "I was so confused as to who sent them because you didn't even put your name on them." I laughed. He just kind of scratched his head and laughed. "Yeah, I didn't think of it, I mean I wrote the message and my name was on the order, I just kind of assumed they would put it on there." he laughed.
"That is SUCH a boy thing to do." Cassidy said with an eye roll. 

That moment on the couch made me really happy. The fact that I was sitting there with my best friend, my beautiful Daughter and her Father who seemed to absolutely worship her made me happy. The way Cass and Oli were getting along made me happy. The whole moment just made life feel really amazing and really wonderful. It was funny how after I was attacked, Belinda told me that when you have your baby, everything you go through is worth it... that really was true for me. Everything prior to Ivy just felt insignificant now. I had only been in touch with Belinda a few times since the day I was attacked; I'd only sent her messages of thanks and a photo of Ivy after she was born, but I still appreciated her that day. She had changed things for me and I would always be grateful. Cassidy decided to go and study for a while so left Oli and I alone to feed Ivy around lunch time. He gave her so much attention and care and he didn't even hesitate to give Ivy her bottle like he did the first time he was here. "I'm really impressed." I said to him causing him to look at me as Ivy guzzled her milk. "You're really getting the hang of this whole parenting thing." I said with a smile. He looked so fucking happy when I said that, and I hated how happy it made me too.

We started talking about when Ivy was born, about my incident , about how things were when she first came home - all the things he missed out on. He eventually asked if I had photos, so I figured I could show him some. "You just want to see the ugly crying photos, don't you?" I joked. He laughed, like really laughed and it was at that moment I realised how easy it was doing this with him, how I'd been so afraid of telling him about Ivy and wondering how I could ever be around him again - but here we were, talking and laughing like old friends. "You don't have to show me those ones, but I'm sure they're not ugly." he said. I just laughed as I went to get my laptop from my room.

"Oh wow, that's a cool laptop." he said as I returned with it. It was the one I'd got as a prize from that scholarship competition - a limited edition design, with this beautiful imagery of the Costa Rican rainforest on it.
"Do you remember that scholarship I was going for? The one in Costa Rica? I think I told you about it." I asked. He thought about it for a second and then nodded.
"With Richard Branson, right?" he questioned. He really did remember.
"Yeah, well I made it to the final 10 and got a bunch of apple products as prizes." I told him. "I mean, only 4 people got to go on the trip, and I would have had to have pulled out if I got it  anyway, but still, it was out of thousands of people." I said. I didn't know why I was telling him, but he smiled at me. "That's amazing, I'm not surprised you did so well though, I remember how passionate you were in Mexico." he said with a smile, until it dropped off his face like saying 'Mexico' was illegal. Maybe it was something he didn't like to think about. I'd never really acknowledged how impressive making the Top 10 out of thousands of people was, but now that I thought about it, I was pretty proud of myself. "Thank you." I replied.

Oli started asking me about my studies, about what I had done with Uni and if I had any plans on getting back into it or anything like that. I told him honestly that I really hadn't thought about it too much yet because Ivy was my priority. He understood that, but he was actually really supportive and tried to be helpful. He asked me about the possibility of doing it part time or even doing it online from home or something. "I could probably do it online, but I still think I'd have to wait until Ivy's a little older. I don't want to be away from her, and I feel like if I did it online, I'd still be disrupted by Ivy all the time... and she definitely comes first." I said. He seemed to understand that.
"I hope you don't mind me asking, but, if you had someone to watch Ivy during the day, would you go back? I mean, I could help with getting a nanny to watch her or something." he asked. 
"Oli, that's really kind of you but... I mean, maybe when she's older. I just don't want to not give her all of my time while she's so young, you know?" I questioned. He just smiled.
"No I totally get it, I just don't want you to have to give up your passions and dreams." he said kind of awkwardly. "If I can help in any way, just let me know, alright?" he added. I thought that was really lovely of him.

We sat there quietly for a while and I just looked at Oli cradling Ivy like he'd done it a million times before. He looked so comfortable and happy, like he'd wanted this his whole life and that he hadn't just found out about her a few weeks ago. "You know, I'm going to talk to Cass about maybe moving to a different place in a year or two, maybe a townhouse or a ground-level apartment so we can get a dog. I really want her to grow up around animals." I said, as if my thoughts were pouring out loud. "I just want some scruffy rescue dog that she can grow with and have as a companion... so she can learn to care for living beings, you know?" I questioned. He looked at me and smiled.
"I would love for her to be around animals too, they're the best." he said happily.
"By the way, I have documents for you to sign so you'll officially be on her birth certificate." I said as I remembered needing to get him to sign them. "If you still want to be on it..." I said, hesitating. "Of course I do." he said with a smile.
"I have been thinking about her name too, and, if you're OK with it, I thought we could hyphenate it... so her name would be Ivy Madison-Sykes." I suggested cautiously. He smiled then looked down at Ivy and booped her on the nose softly. "Someone's going to officially be a little Syko." he said before kissing her forehead. Honestly, I felt my heart melting in my chest. He was so precious with her. I hated how he had that affect on me.