Here For You (Narry)

Chapter 6

How many nights does it take to count the stars?
That's the time it would take to fix my heart
Oh, baby, I was there for you
All I ever wanted was the truth, yeah, yeah
How many nights have you wished someone would stay?
Lay awake only hoping they're okay
I never counted all of mine
If I tried, I know it would feel like infinity - Infinity by One Direction
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Harry's P.O.V.
"Harry, I- I have a daughter." Niall announced nervously.
I stared at him, thinking I heard wrong. "What?"
"A man from social services just called and told me that I have a daughter." Niall calmly delivered the news as if he wasn't breaking my world apart as he spoke.
I finally found my voice. "How Niall? You decided to sleep with a girl and you never told me you got her knocked up? Oh that's no big deal!" My voice was shaking, with anger or hurt I'm not sure. I looked into Niall's deep blue eyes that I loved so much and asked the qeustion that was bothering me most, "Why Niall?"
"Harry, calm down." Niall wrapped his arms around me. I wanted to pull away but I found that impossible, as my body was numb. "I'm upset too, but I promise you I didn't have any idea or I would have told you. And I would never cheat on you, I'm not even sure how this happened." Niall spoke softly.
I breathed deeply, trying to collect myself.
"What's her name?" I asked shakily. "Th-the mother."
The whore. My mind corrected me.
I dreaded the answer, but at the same time I had to know.
Niall avoided my gaze. "Alice Lopez."
My heart sank. "Your ex girlfriend? You told me you only dated her to cover our relationship!"
"I did." Niall replied. "Look Harry, we were at a party and we were both drunk. She meant nothing to me romantically. It was empty sex, and we both regretted it."
"Yeah right." I snorted. "I'm not dumb. What really happened?"
Niall sighed. "Okay, that was before we started dating. Maybe I was in a bit of denial of my feelings for you and I tried to convince myself I kinda liked her. But I was drunk that night, and it was empty sex like I said. We broke up the next day when I finally realized it was you I loved and always will. She noticed that and said there was no reason for us to date when my heart was obviously with someone else."
Niall cupped my face in his hands. "Harry, it's you I love. That all happened fourteen years ago. I would never lie or cheat on you."
I shook my head. "I still can't believe you never told me about her. I thought we told each other everything!"
"I know, and I'm sorry." Niall whispered. Tears were gathering in his eyes.
One thing I couldn't bear was to see Niall cry. I sighed and pulled him close to me. "Don't cry babe. We'll talk about this later. Right now, let's just worry about your daughter, yeah?"
Niall wiped his eyes and forced a small smile. "Okay."
"So the girl's fourteen right? What's her name?" I asked. I was still upset, but Niall was obviously even more upset and I had to distract him.
"Yeah." Niall sniffed. "Her name's Beverly Powell."
"Well I hope she's got her dad's looks." I teased, making my gorgeous boyfriend blush. "Seriously though, do you plan on meeting her? What are you going to do?" I hated to stress Niall, but these were questions that needed to be answered.
Niall hesitated. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about. See, Beverly is in a bad situation right now. She's living in foster home because Alice was found doing drugs. The man on the phone didn't go into details, but I get the impression the conditions they were living in were pretty bad.
I immediately felt bad for the girl, even though I was still upset. "That's terrible. Are you going to visit her?" I asked.
"Well, that's actually what the social worker called to ask." Niall replied slowly. "I wanted to discuss it with you first."
"Of course you should meet her, Niall. " I wrapped my arm around his shoulders. "She's your daughter."
"Will you come with me?" Niall asked.
I stiffened. It's wasn't like I had anything against Niall's daughter, but meeting the child of a woman Niall had slept with behind my back.. "I don't know, Nialler..." I trailed off when I saw the disappointed expression on his face.
"Haz, please?" Niall pleaded. "You're my one and only, and I want us to do this together. This is really important to me, and I kinda really need someone by my side."
I gazed at my boyfriend. His normally cheerful blue eyes were worried and pleading. How could I say no to him?
I kissed his cheek. "Of course, babe. Anything for you."
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Niall's P.O.V.
"Tell why I agreed to this again?" I asked.
We were on the way to meet Beverly. After talking to Harry, I had called Tom back and told him my answer. He was pleased and gave me the address of the foster home where my daughter was staying. My daughter. Those two words sounded so strange and foreign.
"Because it's the right thing to do." Harry answered.
I glanced over at Harry, who was sitting in the passenger seat while I drove. He was fiddling nervously with the buttons on his shirt.
"You okay there?" I asked.
"Yeah, fine." Harry replied with an obviously faked smile. "How are you? Nervous?"
Come to think about it, I was nervous. Scratch that, I was terrified. My breathing started to speed up, and I tried to focus on the road to distract myself.
"Nialler? What's wrong?" Harry asked worriedly for the second time today.
"Nothing."
"Ni, I know you better than that. What's wrong? Are you nervous?"
"Maybe a little bit." I kept my eyes trained on the road. "Okay, I'm really nervous. What if she hates me for not being there during her childhood? I wouldn't blame her if she did. What if she's a brat? What if - "
"Niall, calm down." Harry cut me off. "Just stop over thinking. I'm sure when she gets to know you, she'll love you as much as I do. And I doubt any child of yours would be a brat."
"Thanks babe." I smiled at Harry. He always knew just how to calm me down.
Well not in bed. My mind whispered
Shut up. That's completely off topic.
Gosh, sometimes I have the dirty mind of a fangirl.
"We're here." Harry announced, interrupting my dirty thoughts.
Immediately, my heart started racing again.
The temporary foster home was a long, stucco building with peeling paint. It didn't look much like a home for children.
We climbed out of the car. Harry took my hand in his and squeezed it. I shot him a small smile, trying to seem confident but failing miserably.
Here goes nothing.
I took a deep breath and walked inside.
We were instantly met with the sounds of crying babies and yelling kids. Kids were running all over the place. A tall, heavyset lady holding a baby was trying to get them under control.
"Hello." She gave us a friendly smile. "What can I help you with?"
I tried to speak, but nothing cam out. Harry answered for me. "I'm Harry Styles, and this is my boyfriend Niall Horan. We're here because Tom Marcel called us and arranged a visit with Niall's daughter, who is staying here."
Thank God for Harry. I thought.
The lady's eyes flickered to our joined hands, then back to our faces. "I'm Mrs. Shannon, the director of this foster home. Nice to meet you both. I would shake hands with you, but - " She gestured to the baby she was holding. "What is your daughter's name?"
"Beverly Powell." I finally found my voice.
"Follow me, please." She turned and led the way down a hallway.
"Oh my god!" A little girl, who couldn't have been older than five, yelled. "It's One Direction!"
A bunch of little girls immediately surrounded us. The boys just rolled their eyes and continued playing.
Harry and I signed some autographs for the little kids. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Harry hugged a little girl and signed her doll.
I noticed Ms. Shannon was watching him too. "He's good with kids." She noted.
"Yup." I said proudly.
That's one of the reasons I love him so much.
We watched him make funny faces, making a crying little boy laugh.
Finally, we made it to the room.
"Wait here." Ms. Shannon left quickly.
We sat down on a big couch in the living room- style room.
I began to fidget restlessy.
"It'll be okay, Ni." Harry murmured, rubbing circles on my back to soothe me.
"Yeah." I relaxed into his comforting touch.
The door opened again, and I shot up in my seat. A skinny girl with dirty-blond hair walked in. She kept her head down shyly.
"Niall, Harry, this is Beverly." Ms. Shannon said.
I got up and walked over to her. "Hi Beverly, I'm Niall. I -I geuss I'm your father." Not knowing what else to do, I stuck out my hand for her to shake.
Beverley finally looked up. When her eyes met mine, my heart skipped a beat. Her eyes were the exact shade of deep blue as mine.
"Hi." Beverly mumbled.
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A/N: It's been a week, but here's the 6th chapter! This was mostly dialogue and I'm sorry if it was boring. Thoughts? Comments? Suggestions? I'd love to hear them! The next chapter will be in Beverly's P.O.V. btw. I hope you like it. Vote if you liked this chapter!❤
xx Grace