Just One Little Favour

Thirteen

It's been a week, and Joseph is well enough to get out of bed and play out in the garden. 

He's still a little sniffly, but other than that he's almost to his normal self. Not only that, but Harry came over almost every night to check in on Joe, and to see if he was getting the vitamins he needed (to Louis' horror).

It should be concerning how much time Harry has spent outside of school to cater for Joe, and even Louis. But Louis believes that it's just a teacher doing teacherly things for their favourite students. He remembers his primary school teacher once gave him a cookie she baked at home because he was most definitely the favourite child, it didn't matter that the other kids got a cookie too, especially when she gave him the biggest one in the box.

"Meow!" Joe yells, stomping his way out from the Wendy house. He puts a hand on his hip, brows furrowed. He points a tiny finger at Louis who's perched on the swing. Louis raises an eyebrow in question, averting his gaze from his phone to his nephew. "We need to get new flowers for the vase!" 

Louis tilts his head. "What's wrong with the flowers in there already?" he asks, using his heels to swing himself back and forth. 

Joe tuts, rolling his eyes, something he's picked up from both Louis and Lottie. "They're dead!" 

Louis purses his lips. "Well, where do you advice we go to get some more? I don't know if you haven't realised, Skimbleshanks, but the majority of these 'flowers' are weeds. And you're certainly not pullng the flowers from my flowerbed." Those flowers scattered beside the gym are sacred. They were his mother's favourite flowers, and he keeps them thriving just for her sake.

Joseph trots over, bundling himself onto Louis' lap. Louis lifts his feet off the ground once he's kicked off, so the pair swing lazily for a few moments, before he does it again. Joseph's hair rustles in the breeze, flopping all over the place and into his face. 

"Can we go to the plant shop? The one Grandma Pauline takes us to? The one with the big pots!" He stretches his arms either side of him to emphasise the size of the pots. Grandma Pauline is Robert's mother, and Louis remembers the time Joseph came home to Lottie's with a massive bonsai tree. Why Pauline allowed a five year old to bring home an actual tree, is beyond his imagination. The tree died within a week.

"You mean the garden centre?" Louis questions, carding his fingers through Joey's soft hair. 

Joe nods, head tilting back at the momentum of Louis' hand. "Yes!" he exasperates. "Please?"

Louis smiles, pecks Joe on the forehead and stands them up, setting Joe on the floor. "Sure. Come on then, Skimbleshanks. Let's see if Grace wants to join us, hm? She's been doing laundry for the past hour and must be bored out of her mind!"

They wander back toward the house from the secret garden, Joseph running into the kitchen. He runs upstairs on all fours. 

"Gracie!" he yells out, feet and hands thumping against the steps. "Gracie, Uncle Loulou said we go garden centre!"

Grace turns her head over her shoulder when the pair find her in Louis' room, folding clean clothes from the hamper. Joe charges over, and Grace is quick to catch him. "That sounds like fun! What's it that you're wanting to buy?"

"Flowers for the secret garden," Joe replies, tipping his upper body backwards so he's practically dangling from Grace's arms, fingers digging into her bare arms and he squeals when she swishes them side to side. 

Louis leans against the doorway, shaking his head fondly toward the pair. "In other words, Gracie, is that, would you like to join us? You've done so much today with not much of a break, you deserve to relax for a bit."