Animal

46

There's never been a need for Harry to be in a hospital besides for reasons involving a certain boy he named Blue Eyes in his diversified mind. It was therefore inevitable that he would feel out of place now that he was in a hospital, but between Louis' hoarse screams and trying to keep himself intact there was no time to let himself feel such a thing.

Becoming a parent starts nine months before a child enters the world but Harry never really felt the weight of such a responsibility until the doctor in navy scrubs started counting down and Louis' nails dug into Harry's palm.

"You're doing well, princess." Harry's sure he's been saying the same thing to Louis for the past hour.

"God damn it, Harry!" Louis shrieked in a higher pitch than any before, his ears blocking out the voice of the doctor momentarily.

"Louis, I need your cooperation down here!" The doctor reminded him in a blaring tone.

Louis' body was going under with his exhaustion but he was just a little closer to having his baby girl with him so he pushed on. He bore down thrice more, his body feeling like it was emptying of his innards and he cried out in a final shout of agony before relaxing.

"There we go." Harry wiped his forehead and kissed his warm temple. "You did so well, darling. You're so amazing."

"Whe-Where is she?" Louis heard a soft muffled crying and he sat up immediately despite the pain in his lower regions.

"You need to relax, Louis." A nurse told him a cold cloth on his neck and forehead. "She's coming."

Harry got to hold her after he cut the umbilical chord. He was positively lost for words or sound thoughts as the squirming little life in his arms messed his clothing with liquid gunk. He held her cradled to his chest and dared to kiss her forehead with a foreign emotion welling up in his chest.

"Lou?" Harry brought her to Louis and handed her over to the boy, carefully ensuring that the towel she was wrapped up stayed that way.

Her body was frail and small, her little fists writhing as they wriggled in the air. She cried and cried with a powerful set of lungs, her precious eyes closed and the wisps of hair on her head pushed backwards. Louis had tears in his eyes and he leaned in to kiss her head, pressing her ear to his chest so she relaxed against his heartbeat.

"Sorry mommy, but we have to take her away for a bit." The friendly nurse with a warm smile who smelt like pineapple took the bundle away from her parents. "I'll bring her right back. I promise."

Harry had his face pressed to Louis' neck, inhaling and slowing his heartbeat as it has never raced like this before. He feels Louis turn his head and lifts his eyes to partake in a warm kiss with the boy.

"We did it." Louis' eyes were drooping after he gave a final push to deliver the placenta.

"You did it." Harry gave him a fervent kiss that conveyed only a fraction of the emotions he had within him. "You gave me a daughter."

The nurse and staff on duty got Louis cleaned up as fast as they could before wheeling him back to the private room where he could rest in peace. He was exhausted by the time he got back to Niall and Zayn.

"Mr. Styles?" The pineapple nurse stopped Harry in the hallway when he was on his way back to the room.

He paused in his return to the private wing where their room was, and turned around to address the woman who was in the delivery room with them. He had a glow about him that not every first-time fathers had but he just couldn't seem to shake off.

"We need to print the birth certificate." She informs him. "We'd like the baby's full name please."

Harry ran his tongue along the inside of his molars. "I have to wait for Louis to wake up."