(Won't) Last Forever •ZARRY•

vii.

           

3 years later...

            It's October, a few days before Halloween and Harry's standing in front of the gallery, with baby Luna perched on his hip. It's her first proper Halloween this years and she refuses to take off the cat ears of her curly little head. She's especially quite the entertainment when she runs around the house with Waffles in her arms, the cat meowing for its life, but nope, Luna isn't letting her go.

            Harry looks at the gallery sign, the words Luce Gallery a familiar sight.

            "C'mon, my little strawberry, we're going to see daddy at work," Harry coos at her. Luna giggles, showing her tiny teeth and claps her little chubby hands.

            "See daddy!" she squeals.

            "That's right, angel."

            Luna is freshly two, which means she officially runs the household, much to Waffles' dismay. She can run around the living room on her own, thank you very much, and pull the cat's tail all she wants. Her dads are absolutely wrapped around her little finger and totally in love with her. She loves to talk, despite not knowing more than fifty words and she's the cutest little angel in the world. She knows how to say please and thank you, smiles and waves at strangers from her dads' arms and eats all of her vegetables, even the green ones.

            She's a striking image of Harry with her big green eyes, a hint of a dimple on her right cheek and brown wavy hair. It may be also because the surrogate is a brunette with blue eyes, but it doesn't really matter to him. Luna is perfect and they wouldn't ever change her for any other baby. Now they just have to make some arrangements and within a year, Luna may have a little brother or sister. This time, half of the baby's DNA will be Zayn's. It's quite a funny story, how they decided this. Of course, they couldn't settle it, endless conversations consisting almost purely of "It'll be your baby." "No, it'll be your baby." "Oh, shut up, the baby will be ours. It doesn't matter whose DNA will have the firstborn.", lead them to a weird solution – paper, rock, scissors. It was as random as flipping a coin and it worked flawlessly.

            Harry opens the door and walks inside the gallery. He's immediately greeted by Nancy from behind the reception desk. Well, Luna is.

            "Well, hello, Miss Luna. How are you today, sweetheart?" Nancy coos at her. Luna just smiles, completely used to people being in love with her.

            "Hello. Good!" Luna says and starts to wiggle in Harry's arms, trying to make him put her on the floor. Harry just holds her tighter, putting his other arm around her middle.

            "Papa, down!" she screams.

            "Wait a minute, love. We'll find daddy and then you can run around all you want, okay?" because Luna is the best and loves her papa very much, she just nods and starts to suck her thumb.

            "Nancy, do you know by any chance where Zayn is?" Harry asks her, jostling Luna on his hip.

            "Yes, he's upstairs, preparing the auction."

            "Thank you," Harry smiles at her and starts to walk towards the stairs. When he's upstairs, Zayn comes into his view right away, standing in the middle of the open spacious room, an iPad in his hand, discussing something with his newest intern. Luna starts to squeal when she sees him and Harry puts her on the ground. Zayn lifts his head up from the tablet and immediately smiles when he spots Luna running towards him. He hands the iPad to the intern and squats down with open arms, waiting for Luna to jump at him like she always does.

            Harry comes to them just as Zayn lifts her up, sits her on his hip and starts to smother her tiny little face in kisses while she swats at him and giggles. He just watches them for a moment, loving the sight of his husband holding their daughter, big smiles on their face. Harry loves them both so much he could never even attempt to put in in words.

            He hates thinking about that terrible, terrible year he and Zayn barely even talked. They were about to get divorced and it always makes Harry feel sick to his stomach when he imagines that right now, they could've been doing completely different things with their lives. But for more than three years, they've been happier than ever. Their love has been unshakable since their reconciliation. Not once have they fought to the point where one of them left the room or started screaming complete nonsense, as it had been frequent before. They moved back into the city, got Waffles and not even a year after that, Luna was born. Zayn doesn't leave New York for longer than three days, if he does he doesn't forget the good night/good morning texts and Harry doesn't drink and then yell. They fall asleep in each other's arms, have most breakfasts and dinners together and have the perfect daughter.

            "Hi, baby," Zayn says and gives Harry a short kiss on the lips. Luna squeals, trying to get her daddy's attention again, "you're a bit early," he blows a raspberry on Luna's cheek, making her break out into giggles.

            "Yeah, I know, but we were getting bored without daddy, haven't we, sweetheart?" Harry smiles at Luna as he fixes her cat ears headband.

            "Yes! Miss daddy!" Luna exclaims, tugging at Zayn's jacket. They both laugh at how adorably their daughter shows them love.

            "Do you have a lot of work? I can take her downstairs and distract her while you finish this up?" Zayn just shakes his head, smiling down at Luna.

            "No, it's fine. Everything's almost done. Clara and the interns can handle the finishing touches. We can go right now, right princess?" Luna nods and claps her tiny hands.

            They're going shopping for her Halloween outfit with her. She's probably going to end up being a cat though, so she can match Waffles. Either way, maybe she'll want one of those Frozen dresses or a tiny witch hat. Who knows? Luna never fails to surprise them.

            Luna is basically glued to Zayn, after not seeing her daddy since the morning, only few hours earlier. They leave the gallery with Luna still on Zayn's hip, but Harry and Zayn holding hands despite that. After walking not even half a block, Luna demands to be put down, so they let her walk for a bit, each holding her hand on one side. She runs with her tiny legs and is being the most perfect angel as usual. She never throws tantrums because she's smart and she knows her dads will give her anything she wants if she says please enough times.

            A little over three years ago, Harry never even dreamed of this – of staying with Zayn and having kids with him. All the luck was on their sides because despite all the fighting, at the end of it, they both knew that divorce wasn't how it was supposed to end. They still loved each other and wanted to stay together, to raise children and grow old together. In order to be able to start a family, their marriage had to be fixed. So, they got better. They fixed their relationship and fell in love with the older, wiser versions of themselves. They became husbands again.

            Now they're also parents and their lives pretty much revolve around Luna. They wouldn't have it any other way, but they never forget to have a little time to themselves – a date night once a month, sex after she finally falls asleep and cuddling while she takes a nap. It works perfectly and everything fits like a puzzle. They have Luna, they have each other and they have happiness, so much happiness they could drown in it.

            It took them some time to get to that point in their lives, in their relationship, but they're here. The road wasn't easy, not at all. They fought, screamed and yelled, they almost got divorced. But their love was still stronger than all of the absurd fighting, pointless jealousy and inability to talk things out. They got better, the divorce papers we never signed and now they have the life they've always wanted.