I Hear You Calling In the Dead of Night

Chapter 3: Emergency Room

~Oh, I feel overjoyed when you listen to my words. I see them sinking in. Oh, I see them crawling underneath your skin...~

I hear you calling in the dead of night

The thing is - Harry actually really likes kids - and Louis' sisters are no exception. They're bright and inquisitive and funny without meaning to be. Lottie's twelve and at that awkward age on the cusp of childhood and adolescence. She spends the beginning of the night with her eyes glued to her mobile, until Harry hands her a cheese grater and a block of mozzarella and puts her to work. He manages to coax a smile or two out of her to boot, which he considers no small success, when you factor in both her age and that she seems shy about smiling with braces. Fizzy spends most of the night in her room, but shuffles downstairs in a towering mound of blankets to watch telly on the sofa and attempt to eat a bit. The others all gravitate toward her, giving her snuggles when they can and if it makes Harry tear up a bit, well, there's no one there to see.

The twins are four-year-old blonde bundles of mischief and much more Harry's speed; they're not at an age yet that they care about his giant glasses or his dorky clothes. In fact, they seem to be under the mistaken impression that he's sort of - well - sort of cool. They try on his glasses and want to know about the books he's read and his favorite movie. They nod approvingly when he says his favorite color is green and his favorite animal is a turtle. They act like he's a wizard when he takes out ingredients for mini pizzas (they've only ever had restaurant pizza and find the idea that you can make it at home the closest possible thing to magic).

Harry patiently shows them how to knead the dough and add sauce and soft, shredded mozzarella (courtesy of Lottie) and insists they pick at least one vegetable topping. The final results are a little misshapen, but delicious nonetheless. Harry even manages to get Fizzy to eat a few bites (which she promptly throws up). She seems to fare better with a cherry lolly and it helps combat some of the nausea so she's able to play with them for a bit. Harry does his best to make Fizzy feel included because he knows how miserable it can be to be stuck in bed while everyone else is having fun.

After dinner, they make chocolate chip cookies from scratch and while they're in the oven, he and the girls fingerpaint in the back garden (wearing some of Harry's old dress shirts as smocks so they don't ruin their clothes). Harry lets them have two cookies each once they've cooled and then he gives Daisy and Phoebe a bath to get the marinara sauce and flour and paint out of their fine blond hair. (He has a good deal of gunk in his own hair, but figures he'll take a shower once he's home.)

By eight o'clock, the twins are in their pajamas and valiantly fighting back yawns. Daisy insists they watch Tangled for what Harry gathers is the millionth time (the others all groan when she suggests it) though Harry thinks they secretly don't mind. Louis is the only one with a television in his room, so they all pile into his bed to watch. Harry's not sure it's okay at first, but Lottie insists that Louis lets them "all the time" and Fizzy seems to perk up a bit at the suggestion so he doesn't have the heart to say no.

Louis' bed smells distressingly like his cologne, overlaid with the strawberry scent of the girl's shampoo, and as they all pile around him and the movie starts, Harry promises himself he won't make a habit of this.

***

Harry jerks awake sometime later to the sound of voices in the outside corridor. It's the loud sort of whispering drunk people do when they're trying to be quiet that isn't quiet at all because they're having trouble modulating their volume. There's a fair bit of stumbling as well followed by a loud crash and a bout of uncontrollable giggling. Harry slowly peers around the unfamiliar room, taking a moment to remember where he is and why he's there. The DVD is back on the title menu and the blinking clock on the player says 2 AM. Harry has one twin on his chest and another wedged into his armpit and Fizzy and Lottie are snuggled one to each side of him. Right. Babysitting.