The One-night Stand

12

Another work week passed. Harry was getting a hang of it and he had started to talk to the other secretaries at lunch. They were nice. He liked his new job. Seeing Louis every day was just a bonus.

He knew he had developed some unwanted feelings in the last couple of weeks and did his best to ignore them, but it was difficult. Especially whenever he saw Louis with Lee. Louis was a devoted father and Harry knew that Lee was lucky. Having a kid with a one-night stand could easily result in the alpha not wanting anything to do with the child. Harry was glad that wasn't the case here even if it was complicated, at least for him.

After they had put Lee to bed on Friday Harry made a suggestion.
"Wanna watch his birth?"

Louis lit up with an excited smile.
"Most definitely! Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Come on." Harry smiled.

They headed downstairs. Harry brought the baby monitor just in case Lee would wake up. They sat down in the living room.
"Uhm, I kind of did a little video with music of my pregnancy photos. Wanna watch that first?" Harry asked.

"Yes." Louis smiled.

Harry connected his laptop to the tv and pressed play. The Supremes Baby Love started playing and a text appeared.

Pregnancy Leander 2017

"Great choice of song." Louis grinned.

Harry had put together almost every picture he had taken of his belly and Louis watched it with a fond smile on display. When it was done Louis turned to him.
"How much did you gain?"

"22 kilos." Harry informed him.

"My mum gained like 30 kilos with each child. That must have been rough." Louis said.

"Really?" Harry questioned.

"Yeah. How were you feeling through the pregnancy? Did you have any cravings?" Louis asked.

"I had morning sickness in the beginning but other than that I felt fine, except for my swollen feet. I had crazy cravings! Mostly eggs and strawberry jam together." Harry chuckled.

Louis made a face.
"Sorry, but that sounds absolutely disgusting!"

"Duh! Of course, but when I was pregnant it was delicious." Harry grinned.

"Right." Louis laughed. Then he got serious. "I hope your family took good care of you."

"They did." Harry assured him.

"Good." Louis said. They locked eyes and stared at each other. Louis' eyes flickered to his lips for a second and Harry forgot how to breathe.

"Let's watch Lee's birth." Louis said and turned to look at the tv instead.

Harry pressed play and he saw himself in the hospital bed with Gemma by his side. Thankfully he had filmed it from the side. No close-ups. He heard himself let out a chasm roar and hid behind a pillow.
"Oh, God."

"You're about to give birth, Harry. No wonder you're screaming. I can't even imagine how much that must have hurt." Louis said and petted Harry's knee briefly.

"Like hell but it was worth it." Harry replied.

They watched for ten minutes in silence. Then the labor pains kicked in for real and Harry watched with one eye. This was indeed horrifying. He was screaming, breathing heavily, swearing, and sweating like a pig.
"Oh fuck!" Louis worded and grabbed Harry's hand.

"Can we please turn it off?" Harry whined.

"No! I'm so impressed, Harry. Fuck, I can't believe you're pushing a baby out through your ass. Sorry, I shouldn't have said that." Louis said.

Harry giggled. Louis still held his hand. He wasn't going to question it.
"It's okay." Harry said instead.

He had a fast delivery. One final push and Lee came out. The nurse put him on his chest and he cried in the film. So was Louis. Harry glanced at him.
"Just look at him. So tiny. Beautiful. You did such an amazing job, Harry. You're so strong. I don't think I would be able to give birth if I could."

"Thanks." Harry beamed.

Louis let go of his hand.
"Sorry. How much did he weigh?"

"2890 grams. 48 centimeters long." Harry said softly.

Gemma grabbed the camera and filmed him closely as he was handed the baby.
"Aaaw, look how happy you are, and proud." Louis smiled.

"And fucking exhausted." Harry giggled.

The film ended. Louis turned to look at him with tears still glistening in his eyes.
"Thank you for filming it, and for letting me watch it. It's the next best thing from actually being in that delivery room."

"I'm sorry you missed the live event." Harry replied.

"Yeah, me too." Louis sighed.

"I made a film of Lee's first seventeen months too. I can give you a copy." Harry said.

"I'd love one. Can we watch it now though?" Louis smiled.

"Sure, I could use it after that horror movie." Harry smirked.

"It was a beautiful film, Harry. So precious." Louis answered.

Damn! He really knew what to say. Harry's heart skipped a beat. Stupid heart. He didn't reply. Instead, he pressed play on the third film. Louis watched it with a smile. Halfway through Louis' phone rang. He looked at the display.
"Crap! I totally forgot that Eleanor is coming over. I'm sorry, Harry. I gotta run. Can we finish it tomorrow?"

"Sure." Harry said and paused the film.

Louis said good night and left. As Harry locked the door behind him and turned on the alarm he felt really lonely. He only knew Louis and his family in Doncaster. He didn't have a friend that could come over and watched a silly movie, or go out for coffee with. That made him vulnerable. It wasn't easy making friends, especially not after you hit a certain age, and definitely not when you were a single parent and an omega. Dating was out of the question.

He turned off the lights and checked on Lee before he went to bed.