𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚐𝚎𝚝 𝙼𝚎 (𝙽𝚘𝚝) - 𝚉𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚢

chapter xvi.

Harry could barely sleep in the guest room. The space itself was nice, with a large vintage bed with a towering headboard that took over most of the room but Harry couldn't bring himself to sleep. In the meantime, he found a recipe for an easy walnut cake he could make with Sadie and also answered some of his queries from the notebook, just from his observations. He has a plan, kind of, and he's not letting his family slip through his fingers.

The morning routine the kids have was easy enough for Harry to understand. Potty, brush their teeth and face, get dressed, breakfast. But over breakfast, Zayn dropped a small-ish bomb on Harry.

"Niall's coming over for lunch," he said as he tried to convince Noah that blackberries were as tasty as all the other berries he loves.

Harry stopped in his tracks and let Sadie finish cutting the rest of her pancakes. "What?"

"It's Sunday," Zayn said plainly. Noah was finally eating. "I believe I've told you that we normally get lunch together on Sundays, if we're not with our families. You don't have to worry, it's casual. Just normal lunch."

"Um, okay," Harry says, not believing his own words. "I can cook?"

"Okay," Zayn nods. "I actually have some work to do. I extended my leave but my class has an exam this week so my inbox is full of students begging for advice and stuff."

"That's fine," Harry tries to smile. He's fucking lost. "Sadie and I can also bake a cake, can't we?"

Sadie nods, her mouth full. "I'm gonna be your helper chef!" she giggles after she swallows her food. Her small fork is more in the air than on the plate.

"That you will," Harry wipes a bit of almond butter from her cheek. "I found this yummy recipe for a walnut cake last night so we can make that. But I haven't seen any walnuts in the pantry so maybe we'll go on an adventure to the shop first." That's quite brave, taking Sadie out somewhere. He could definitely forget her in the shop. There's a million things that could go wrong.

"Yeah, Noah's allergic to walnuts," Zayn says then. "Don't think it's the best idea to keep a walnut cake around."

Harry turns to him with wide eyes. "Oh my god," he leans his forehead into his palm, his heart dropping down to his stomach. "Is there anything else I should know about before I accidentally kill my children?"

"Daddy, that's mean," Sadie says offhandedly and goes to drink her tea.

"Accidentally, baby," Harry remarks before turning his attention back to Zayn. "So?"

"Harry, don't be dramatic," Zayn says quietly. "They're not allergic to anything else. I should've told you but we don't keep walnuts in the house, I didn't think it would be a problem."

"Yes, but you couldn't forsee me finding the worst possible recipe and being a danger to our children," Harry scoffs. "It's not your fault that I'm an unfit father and worse than a teenage babysitter."

"It's no one's fault, Harry," Zayn says sternly, his gaze burning. "Were you supposed to just hide from them forever and have them visit you twice a month as if we were divorced and I had custody? We both had to learn how to take care of them, we didn't just magically acquire that knowledge when we had Sadie."

"Fuck, of course, not!" Harry raises his voice. When he realizes he has three pairs of eyes staring at him in shock, he slaps his hand over his mouth.

"Daddy said a bad word!" Sadie gasps theatrically and starts giggling.

"Yes, I'm sorry, Sadie," Harry sighs. "I'm not gonna do that again."

Sadie just shrugs and goes back to eating her pancakes.