Softer Side

Chapter fourty-three

A grumble left Louis' lips as he rubbed his eyes, hearing a thud come from the kitchen. He sat up slowly, running a hand through his hair before pulling on his tracksuit bottoms and opting for no T-shirt. He padded slowly out of the kitchen, raising his eyebrows at the sight before him.

"Did I wake you?" Becky asks, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes as she placed her hand on her head. Louis shook his head, sitting at the island in his kitchen, watching Becky carefully, confusion and worry on his features. "Went a little dizzy" she mumbles, continuing to make her lunch and eat her breakfast quickly.

"Why are you even dressed?" He mumbles, eyeing the wine red shift dress she had on, taking in the ruffles on the hem. Becky sighs, stopping what she was doing as she runs a hand over her hair, making sure it was smooth.

"I need to go and grab some paperwork from work" she says softly, "they've been without me too long now". A sigh left her lips as she grabs the counter, feeling her legs shake slightly. Louis shook his head, standing up and placing an arm around her waist and one on her shoulder from behind.

"Not a chance, you're not leaving this house" he mumbles as Becky goes to speak. "Stop, they'll manage another week without you" he says softly as he guides her to the sofa, sitting her down. "Get into your comfies, I'll make you a tea and you can put a film on... I'll go and get that paperwork" he says softly as Becky sighs.

Becky's eyes widened, "Louis you can't... I have important things to do... Soph has a really big event coming up that cannot be interfered with" she mumbles as he chuckles, shaking his head. "Also... why are you topless" Becky mumbles, raising her eyebrow at him as he chuckles, looking down at his bare abdomen.

"I heard a thud and didn't have time to grab a shirt... it's not a bad sight" he teases, patting his muscular stomach lightly. "Anyway, I'll leave that to your assistant, I've already called and she's finding out the paperwork you were coming to get" he smirks, folding his arms triumphantly.

"I feel silly Lou" she sighs, looking at her hands this time. "I'm meant to be this strong independent woman and I've still got no home after that whole split and now I'm not even working" she mumbles, sighing heavily as she looks up sadly. Louis sat beside her, taking his hands into hers lightly.

"Shush" he smiles, "you're ill and there's no way you could live by yourself even if you wanted to right now, when you're feeling better we can sort all of that out, but right now it's like we're room mates again, it worked before" he says softly as she nods slowly.

"But what about if you want to bring a woman home again?" Becky teases now, raising her eyebrows as Louis laughs, shoving her lightly now.

"I wanted her to leave anyway, plus you're now a huge thing to focus on and I've got massive work things to do" he laughs before his smile softens. "Go on, joggers" he says softly as she stands up, heading to the bedroom she was currently living in, changing out of her work outfit and into her comfy clothes again. As she left the room, she walked past the door, stopping to open it as it knocked.

"Harry?" She questions as he smiles a sad smile at her. His arm was against the door frame, smiling down at his shorter friend from home.

"How are you feeling?" He says softly as she shrugs with a smile, looking at him.

"On the mend... please don't come and stress me out like last time we saw each other Harry" she sighs, moving from the door so he could come into the house.

Harry sighed, closing the door and following her. He held his hand up as a hello to Louis, smiling at him before sighing and looking at Becky. "I know and I'm sorry for that, that's why I'm going to fix everything for you" he sighs, "you've been my best friend since we were kids and now you're ill and i just want to sort everything out so you and Soph don't hate me anymore" he says quietly, looking for an answer from her.

"No more confessing your love for her" Becky sighs as Harry nods slowly. "Good because I don't know if I can deal with that... Niall is good for her and is what she needs..." she sighs, turning to look at him, handing him a mug of tea now. "I know he's your band mate, well, ex band mate but they work so well together and he really treats Ariella like his own" she smiles softly.

Harry nods, looking at the girl before him who still looked ill. "It just hurt when she called him daddy you know? But it just shows how perfect Niall and Soph are together... I'm happy for them" he smiles softly, sipping the tea in his hands. "I love her Beck as the mother of my daughter but I'm not in love her... don't get me wrong, part of me always will be but it's not like it was" he shrugs with a smile. "We both fell out of love, and I hurt her but today I'm putting that right" he nods, laughing as Becky hugs him tightly.

"I'm so happy!" She cheers before her eyes widen. "We can be one big happy family again and you guys can get back together in a band and go on tour and make millions of fans happy again and life will be great" she rambles, smiling widely as Louis laughs in the background.

"Slow down, slow down... I don't think we're ready for that... we all have single tours and our own music" Harry laughs before smirking at her. "All in good time" he teases, sipping his tea.

~~~~~~

"I'll get it!" Niall calls, walking towards the front door as I sit in the living room with Ariella and her drawing pad. She was currently practising writing her name, which she was doing really well with. A sigh left Niall's lips as he saw a familiar face at the door. Harry. "Mate, if you've come to have another argument now is not the time" Niall mumbles as Harry shakes his head.

"I'm not here for that, I'm here to check Soph and Ari are okay after what happened" he smiles, holding out a bag in front of him with some chocolate and a Teddy for Ariella. I raise my eyebrow as I appear beside Niall, confused at the sound of Harry's voice leading me to go and see. "I know these won't fix what happened Soph and the horror you've been through but they taste good" he chuckles as I smile softly, letting him into the house.

I head into the kitchen, noticing his half smile as he looks around. "Why are you here?" I say softly, leaning on the worktop as he sighs softly.

"Look, I've come to apologise properly to you and to show you I'm going to change for our daughter" he nods, "I've also one to tell you Alice is gone... I'm going to do dating properly next time whenever that is, but for now I'm focusing on our daughter whilst fixing the past to be able to look for the future" he says softly as I nod, opening my mouth to speak. "Please here me out" he continues as I nod allowing him to carry on with his speech.

Niall walks out, raising his eyebrow. I look between the two, sensing that they needed to talk leading me to leave the room silently to allow them some time. I sit back with Ariella, who hadn't noticed her daddy was here, or she had and was just keeping quiet because of the tension in the house.

"So how's everything going with the music?" Harry asks as Niall switches on the kettle with a nod.

"Yeah, everything's good... I'm just on a few days off from the tour so I thought I'd come home" he smiles, starting to make two cups of tea. Harry nods in response at Nialls statement.

"There's no hard feelings are there mate?" He asks as Niall shakes his head slowly. He turned around, placing a mug in front of Harry.

"No mate, I'm happy and Im not going to let anything come and ruin that" he smiles, looking into the living room where I sat with Ariella, still tracing her name.

"I'm happy for you" Harry says softly with a smile, following Nialls gaze. "I mean it mate, you two are perfect for each other, you're what she needed" he says softly as Niall smiles softly, nodding in response. "So I was thinking... let me have Ariella for a little longer, say a week or two and you guys can go away..." he says quietly as Niall raises his eyebrow at him.

"And where would we go?" He laughs, "I need to go to America soon" he chuckles, thanking him for the thought.

"Go together" Harry shrugs with a smile. "You deserve it after the shit you guys have been through... go and take some time together" he says softly as Niall looks back into the living room.

"I'll take you up on that mate" Niall smiles, winking at me as I turn my head, shaking my head with a giddy smile on my lips. My heart pounding in my chest at the sight of the Irishman in the kitchen. His eyes bright blue and his heart holding part of mine.

Harry was happy for us, and that's all the clarification I needed that this was right. I just hoped he found happiness like this too.