AS YOU HELD ONTO ME / hs

Sixteen

- Friday, September 27, 2030 -

Ava turned the shower's water off, messily shaking her hand through her sopping hair as she slid the glass door open with her other hand to grab her hair wrap off the hook. She was quick to flip her head upside down, twisting the cotton towel around her hair and securing it at the nape of her neck. Her heart was fluttering the tiniest bit as she grabbed the plush bath towel to dry herself off. Lotion was hastily applied as she stood at her bathroom counter, and some oil was frivolously smoothed through her hair, her towels discarded in a ball next to her feet, deciding she could take care of them later.

Ava was eager to join the party down the hall.

With a pep in her step, she flicked her en-suite light off and made quick work of throwing on the first pair of shorts from her pj drawer, her sopping hair clinging to the material of an old, worn out Kiss shirt of Harry's that she had conveniently confiscated years ago. And with some fuzzy socks quickly pulled on, she headed to the room at the end of the hallway, laughter becoming more prominent the closer she got.

Ava already felt like her heart was in her throat as she paused at the door, slowly creeping it open as discreetly as she could. The vision in front of her never got old.

Their laughter was infectious, practically identical in the way their noses creased and dimples etched into their cheeks. They sat on the bed, side by side as they both leaned back against the headboard, ankles crossed in the same way, most likely laughing at one of Harry's horrible jokes. They weren't horrible to her though. No - to her, they held the moon in the sky.

"Finally," Harry chuckled when he noticed Ava.

She shot him a look, one that he'd been on the receiving end of plenty of times throughout the years, and one that had a slight curl of her lips that she desperately tried to keep at bay as she walked over to them.

"Hi, mommy!"

Ava leaned down to kiss her daughters head before sitting on the bed beside her, intertwining their arms as she rested her head on Ava's shoulder.

"Hi, love. Did you have a good day?"

"Yeah! How was yours? We missed you!"

This was what Ava lived for - getting home after a long day to spend the evening with her two favorite people.

"Good, happy to be home." Ava kissed her head once more, her eyes flicking up to meet Harry's, a warm smile spread across his face. "What have you two been up to?"

"We got some stuff for tonight, didn't we baby?" Harry nodded at your daughter, encouraging her to share.

"We got face masks," she beamed at Ava as she dropped her mouth open in excitement. "And daddy picked out a yellow nail polish."

"Did he now?" Ava smiled, warmth encasing her heart at how happy she looked.

"Yeah! We were just waiting for you," she nodded, her eyes fluttering fondly as Harry kissed the back of her head.

"Go grab them, love." He nodded with a smirk pulling at his lips.

She was quick to crawl down to the bottom of the bed, practically skipping out of her room.

"Where's she going?" Ava laughed.

"They're refrigerated face masks, love. All the rage."

"Ah, I see." She smiled, taking in his ruffled hair and soft hoodie, the thin layer of facial hair that scattered across his jaw and upper lip.

Harry leaned down onto one elbow, inching himself closer to Ava. "We missed you."

Ava breathed out through her nose as she ran the backs of her knuckles across his jaw, leaning down until she could rest her forehead on his. "Missed you too. I'm just glad she still wants to do this," she admitted softly.

"Me too, baby."

He extended his neck enough to softly slant his mouth over hers. He was warm and tasted like the honey she knew he put in the tea they had while she was still at work. With one last kiss to the corner of her mouth, he pulled away, chucking two fingers under her chin.

He was gone way too soon, leaving Ava blinking at him as their daughter entered the room. Harry must have heard her coming and didn't want to get caught. He was the one that got yelled at for "always being all over mommy" after all. The thought made Ava smile fondly as she watched her daughter set up the nail polish, some nail art stickers, the face masks and even a small bowl of M&M's to snack on.

"Can't believe my baby's gonna be ten years old tomorrow," Ava shook her head in disbelief.

She crossed her feet under her legs before smiling up at Ava. "Don't cry, mommy."

"I'm not gonna cry," Ava scoffed.

Harry and his daughter laughed in unison, the same boisterous laugh escaping their mouths at the same time. And Ava couldn't help but laugh too as she blinked the tears from her eyes, enamored with the life she and Harry created.

Every year, they spent the night before her birthday as just the three of them, even when she was too young to remember. It was their tradition, one of many that their little family had created over the years. As she got older, she started requesting new things; coloring night, movie night, game night - and tonight, spa night. It was special to Ava, and she knew it was special to her and Harry too.

"What should we talk about?" Harry asked as he extended his left hand onto his daughter's knee as she opened the nail polish jar.

"When you asked mommy to marry you," she smiled brightly.

Harry laughed, watching as she carefully painted the yellow polish on his first finger. "How many times can you hear that story!"

She giggled softly before her eyebrows crinkled in concentration, her tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth, the same way Harry's did. "Hmm, okay when you first met? Or when you told grandmom and grandpop you wanted to live together!" She rattled off stories her parents had told her numerous times, her eyes trained on neatly painting her dad's nails.

"How about a new one?" Ava suggested.

Ava looked over at Harry, a smile pulling at his lips as he chimed in. "Yeah, was thinking when you were born?"

*** 

a/n:  thank you so much for reading!  only three chapters left xxx