Work Text:
“Would you like some tea, Mr. Rabbit?” Delilah asks the stuffed animal on her left. The little tea set is all laid out on the table, the teapot filled with her favourite berry tea. To her right is another one of her dear stuffed friends - Mrs. Kangaroo. The spot opposite Delilah is always empty, in case one of her dads or Jasper want to join. Her daddy always says it’s the polite thing to do, especially if she’s not sure if some other guests may be coming.
The rabbit doesn’t answer of course, but Delilah pours some tea into his cup either way.
“Can I get some tea?”
Delilah lifts her eyes up from the cup and looks at the source of the voice. The empty seat is now occupied. A blond girl about Delilah’s age is sitting there. She’s wearing a dress that Delilah has seen on a porcelain doll her aunty gifted her for Christmas. Delilah’s never met her and she isn’t sure when the girl got inside of her room.
“Who are you?” Delilah asks, setting the teapot on the table.
The girl stays quiet at first. Delilah notices the girl’s blue eyes, vibrant in colour yet somehow dull. They’re almost hiding under her messy fringe but they never leave Delilah.
“I’m Elsie. Nice to meet you,” Elsie outstretches her hand towards Delilah. Her fingers are bony, nails a bit dirty. Delilah’s dads would’ve scolder her if she hadn’t washed her hands before drinking her tea and eating snacks.
Delilah eyes the hand warily but decided to take it and shake Elsie’s hand. She’s a stranger but she’s not a grown up. They can be friends. Maybe Elsie is their neighbour. Delilah’s family is new here after all, it’s not like she could’ve met Elsie already.
Elsie smiles when their hands touch, this little shy grin. Delilah doesn’t though. The icy skin of her new friend doesn’t let her. Delilah was just about to say something when they heard a growl. Elsie gasps, staring at Delilah with her blue eyes so wide they looked like they were about to pop right out of her head on springs like in a cartoon.
“That was my mommy,” Elsie said, taking her hand away. “I have to go now. I’ll see you soon, Delilah.”
And she was gone.
xxx
“Fuck.”
“What?”
Harry sighs, assessing the damage in the wallpaper he just ripped off. “It’s fucking ruined.”
He hears his husband’s footsteps approaching until he feels him right next to himself.
“Well… we can do an accent wall? Or put a bookshelf there?”
“Zayn,” Harry whines. “We’re gonna have to take it all off. This whole library is just… decaying. I don’t understand why the hell didn’t the previous owners repair this room as well. The rest of the house is upgraded, everything from pipes to fucking light switches. Everywhere but here.”
Harry feels Zayn put his arm around Harry’s waist and Harry leans into him automatically. Naturally like a sunflower following the sun.
“You heard the realtor, they had this room locked and didn’t use it,” Zayn says and tries to kiss Harry’s cheek, but Harry pulls away, annoyed at the whole situation. He didn’t expect any major renovations when buying this house and now they have to deal with a library that’s falling apart, is full of junk and probably has some fucked up shit like black mold or asbestos.
“Babe, I’m not in the mood,” Harry fusses as Zayn tries to kiss him again.
“I’m just trying to cheer you up, love,” Zayn smiles and Harry lets himself be pulled into a hug.
“Yeah, well. Make this room disappear or look brand new without investing any more money and time and I’ll be more than cheered up.”
“How about we get a sitter tomorrow and enjoy a night out?” Zayn asks, punctuating it with a kiss on the side of Harry’s head. The familiarity of it brings Harry to wrap his arms around Zayn’s torso even tighter and burying his face in Zayn’s shoulder.
“What do you think, Haz?”
Harry just groans as a response, closing his eyes for a few seconds before lifting his head up and looking at his husband.
“There’s nothing more I want than that but we can’t leave the kids alone here just yet. It’s an unfamiliar place and I’m sure Lila wouldn’t be able to sleep without us putting her to bed and I just… I don’t want to alienate this place for her even more.”
“It’s not that bad,” Zayn argues. “She’s had just one nightmare since we moved in. It’s normal for kids. It’s a foreign space, new environment. I’d be more worried if she had no reaction at all.”
“One nightmare and an imaginary friend,” Harry reminds him. “ Those are never a good sign.”
Zayn chuckles and shakes his head slowly. He watches Harry with a smile, the same one that made Harry fall in love with him all those years ago. It still makes Harry’s heart clench up in the same, most delightful way.
“One would think that you were the psychologist, Haz. Lila’s more than okay, babes. It’s perfectly normal for kids to create dreamt up friends and even events in their head. She’s-”
Zayn’s interrupted by high-pitched screeching. They stare at each other in shock as they listen to the pair of quick footsteps running over their heads, the sound then moving to the stairs and eventually down the hallway leading to the library. Their eyes move to the door just as their daughter appears in the doorframe, breathless and panting with tears in her eyes.
Harry’s heart drops to his stomach and he moves before he can even process what’s happening. He lets go off of Zayn and his legs carry him to his little girl standing at the door, holding onto the frame with her tiny hands. He crouches down to her level, immediately looking over her body to see if there’s any blood, any bruising, any torn clothing. The relief when he finds her unscatched is a bit calming, but it doesn’t do much since there are tears on her cheeks and Harry just wants to know what caused her to scream like that.
It’s an instinct now. When he hears one of his kids scream, it doesn’t matter what he’s doing he drops everything without a second thought and runs the them. Harry never understood it fully when his mom used to tell the story of how he and his sister both broke their arms while trying to race who could climb a tree the fastest. She stills tells it, only now not at family gatherings but to her grandchildren, to warn them about climbing trees because “ sweethearts, you don’t want to end up like your daddy! He couldn’t play for two whole months!”. The moral of the story isn’t just that but she also never fails to mention that crippling fear that washed over her when she heard both of her children scream bloody murder and then find them in their backyard, bruised and scratched and crying their eyes out.
Harry gets it now. How even a small cut or a boo boo on their knee or elbow could terrify him like a fucking monster. There’s nothing worse than that feeling, those few fleeting seconds when he hears them scream or cry or shout for him, before he knows what happened. It could be a spider in the bathroom but it could be a severed limb. His mind always conjures up the worst possible scenario and yeah, he might seem overprotective sometimes but he couldn’t give a fuck about that as long as his kids are safe and healthy.
“Delilah, baby, are you okay?”
Harry takes a sharp breath as he hears Zayn speak next to him. He feels the tears in the corners of his eyes suddenly appearing and after taking one look on Delilah still crying and looking between him and Zayn, he doesn’t hesitate and grabs Delilah, pulling her close to his chest, his right hand on the back of her head, smoothing her hair. It’s as if he could finally breathe, his lungs expanding and collapsing properly now his daughter is safe in his arms.
“Dad, Jasper said that Elsie isn’t real,” Delilah says between sobs.
Harry lets out a sigh of relief, a laugh almost. He’s never happy when his kids fight but it’s still better than actually being hurt.
“Oh, Delilah,” Zayn says and runs his hand over Delilah’s back. “Don’t listen to your brother. He’s just trying to wind you up and you can’t let him be mean to you. We’ll talk to him because he’s not being nice to you and that isn’t right. But you don’t have to cry, angel.”
“Sweetheart, it’s all good,” Harry says and kisses the top of her head. “Elsie is your friend and your brother is just jealous because he doesn’t have tea parties with you and Elsie.”
“It’s not just that, Daddy,” Delilah whimpers. “He said… he said she was dead.”
Harry swears his vision goes black for a split second. “He said what?”
“That- that Elsie is dead and that she’s a ghost and that she will do something very bad to me if I keep talking to her,” Delilah cries.
“Oh my god,” Harry sighs.
He sees Zayn stand up, rubbing the bridge of his nose before giving Harry a look. They’ve mastered that one ever since Jasper was two and started getting into trouble.
“Jasper,” Zayn calls out as he leans against the doorway. “Jasper, come downstairs right away or we’re taking your iPad away for the whole weekend.”
Harry stands up with Delilah in his arms just as Jasper’s footsteps reach the bottom of the staircase. His eldest appears in the doorway shortly after. He crosses his arms over his chest, mirroring his father. They look so much alike Harry would swoon over it if it weren’t for this whole situation.
“What?” Jasper sighs, rolling his eyes as if talking to his parents was the most time consuming, exhausting and unnecessary thing in the world.
“Please, check your attitude Jasper,” Harry says with cold calmness. “And explain to me why in the world did you tell your sister that her imagi- that her friend Elsie was dead?”
“Because it’s the truth?” Jasper asks with a little shake of his head and a shrug, like it’s just so obvious.
“Jasper, you brought your sister to tears and told her something bad would happen to her if she kept talking to Elsie. You can’t do that,” Zayn says, still unmoving from his spot by the door. He watches Jasper with the same invisible scolding that can make his patients admit if they fucked up their recovery somehow in seconds, only Jasper knows his father too well and he just stares right back at him. The same hazel eyes having a stare off.
“I’m just trying to protect her. Sometimes the truth hurts,” Jasper answers confidently. He looks at Delilah then, her tears finally having disappeared. “I’m sorry for making you cry. I was only trying to help you.”
“That’s not what you should’ve told Delilah, Jasper,” Zayn sighs. “You lied to her to scare her.”
“I didn’t lie!” Jasper yells, whipping his head towards Zayn. “You know I don’t lie, Dad. Elsie is dead. She’s a ghost. Imaginary friends don’t exist.”
Delilah starts crying again, burying her face in Harry’s shoulder. Harry starts shushing her down, whispering in her ear that it’s okay, kissing her hair over and over again while he rocks her gently on his hip.
“God, Jasper,” Zayn breathes out. “Where did you even get that idea?”
“Isn’t this what always happens in old houses?” Jasper asks quietly, his breathing getting more rapid as if he was starting to cry. “I just want her to be safe and you’ve always told me not to lie and-”
He starts sobbing then and Zayn wastes no time to squat down to him and wrap him in a hug.
Harry’s at a loss. He shares a look with his husband, both puzzled at what the fuck is going on with their children. Having two crying kids and talks about ghost friends that his daughter has tea parties with is positively not a thing he wanted during the first two weeks of living in their new house.
xxx
“I missed this so much,” Harry gasps out, pulling Zayn down for a kiss. Zayn just nods into the kiss, pulling Harry’s hips closer and pushing his right leg down towards his belly, hitting a new angle that nearly makes Harry scream.
Twelve years of marriage, two children and the sex still isn’t boring. Harry’s not sure whether he should be happy about it being some sort of a mythical achievement for married couples, especially parents, or if it’s just a normal thing for people who don’t fall out of love.
This is the first time they’re fucking in their new bedroom, their new house. Almost three weeks of living there and this is the first opportunity they’ve had. The kids are at their neighbours’ house, this lovely couple with three kids, all between Jasper and Delilah’s age. Hanna and Brett said it was fine for the kids to hang out together, to meet some new kids before they start school again. The move consumed all of their free time because there was always something that had to be dealt with. The library, Delilah’s nightmares, Jasper’s creepy stories that he just refuses to let go. It’s been a lot more stress than they’ve anticipated.
“I can’t believe the last time we fucked was in our old house,” Harry moans. “I hate moving. I’m never doing it again. Finally got my dream colonial in the suburbs and we’re not going through that moving bullshit again.”
“Sometimes I feel like-” Zayn grunts as he fucks into Harry harder, making them both moan loud enough that the kids would hear them if they were home. “Sometimes I feel like you love this house more than me.”
“Nonsense,” Harry chuckles and kisses Zayn. “I can’t have sex with a house. You’ve got some invaluable qualities that this beauty of a property doesn’t.”
Zayn smiles into the kiss. “You’re insufferable.”
“That’s why you married me, baby,” Harry bites his lips lightly.
“I love you.”
“I love you too,” Harry gasps out. He wraps his arms around Zayn’s shoulders, pulling him down to his chest. The rest of the room is visible to him now and Harry closes his eyes after watching how their bodies move together under the blanket. It doesn’t take long before they’re both coming. Harry digs his blunt nails into the skin on Zayn’s shoulders and he opens his eyes, gasping with a near shout. But not just because of the orgasm.
Harry blinks a few times and the figure that was standing at the foot of their bed disappears. He’s left with a racing heartbeat, the rhythm even quicker than what it usually is after a stimulation such as an orgasm. His breathing is off too because it doesn’t slow down even after minutes. Harry knows what’s happening around him, notices Zayn pulling out and plopping down on his side of the bed. He’s aware of Zayn’s stare and his calm breathing but Harry just can’t take his eyes off of the spot where he saw the figure.
“Baby? What’s up?”
Harry blinks, turning his head to look at Zayn. “Nothing.”
“You were just… staring off into the distance. Are you okay?”
“No, yeah I’m fine,” Harry smiles shakily. “Just… thought I’d seen something.”
“What?”
Harry grins, shaking his head to get rid of that stupid vision. “You fucked my wits out of me, I thought I saw a fucking figure at the end of our bed. Or a ghost, as Jasper would say.”
Zayn breathes out a laugh, looking at Harry with doubt. “Haz, you sure you’re fine?”
“Yeah,” Harry says and he pushes Zayn down, lying his head on his chest. “I’m probably just tired or dehydrated. Or Jasper’s gotten into my head with those ghost conspiracy theories.”
“If you’re sure, babe,” Zayn says. His hand easily finds a spot in Harry’s hair, his fingers twisting the curls around as always.
“I’m fine,” Harry assures him and kisses the skin on his pec. “Don’t get too comfortable because we have to change the sheets before we go pick up the kids.”
“And here I thought we’d have time for a round two.”
Harry clicks his tongue. “The world’s cruel, baby. Gotta get used to it.”
“Yeah, it is. Especially since I’ve got you here with that body when I could you lay you down and eat-”
“Daddy!”
Their heads whip to the door and then they’re scrambling to cover themselves with the blanket properly. Delilah’s standing there with a wide smile, one hand on the door handle and another on the doorway.
“What’s up, sweetie?” Harry says breathlessly, attempting to sit up without flashing any nudity or the come drying on his belly. “We would’ve picked you up. Where’s Jasper?”
“In his room,” Delilah answers. “What were you and dad doing?”
“We, we were uh-”
“We were having a sleepover, honey,” Zayn answers for him.
Delilah frowns, dropping her arms down along her body. “Why didn’t you invite me?” she stomps. “We haven’t had a sleepover together in ages. You promised we would watch Moana together after my bedtime.”
“We’re so sorry, honey. We didn’t want you to miss the fun at Mr. and Mrs. Peters today,” Zayn says. “We’ll make it up to you.”
“Yes, we can watch Moana tonight,” Harry continues. “We’ll make popcorn and you can stay up after your bedtime. We don’t even have to invite Jasper this time.”
“Jasper is too old for our sleepovers, Daddy,” Delilah says, the frown still on her face. “He says it’s not fun anymore.”
“Okay, it’d be just the three of us then,” Harry tries with a smile. He wants to desperately cuddle Delilah to get that frown off of her face but he can’t exactly do that with his dick out, can he?
“Can Elsie join us?” Delilah asks.
Harry turns his head around to look at Zayn, having a silent conversation in a language that parents just have to speak. Zayn shrugs helplessly and Harry rolls his eyes before looking back at Delilah with a smile.
“Of course she can, Lila,” Harry says. “As long as her parents don’t mind.”
Delilah finally smiles, the frown disappearing completely. “Her mommy’s around sometimes, she says. I don’t know what she means but I think it will be okay.”
Harry and Zayn start just nodding, lost at what to say to their child about that.
“Thank you, Daddy. Thank you, Dad,” Delilah shouts before closing the door loudly and leaving.
“Oh, fuck,” Zayn says.
“‘Oh, fuck’ is right,” Harry sighs.
He really fucking hopes Delilah doesn’t start having tea parties with Elsie’s mommy as well. Or that she decides to join in on their family dinners.
xxx
“Okay, then what’s the square root of sixteen?”
“Daddy, this is so stupid,” Jasper whines and slams his hand with the pencil down. “Math is so stupid. And it’s only the first week of school, why do we have homework already?”
“Honey,” Harry sighs and pushes Jasper’s messy raven hair back. “You’re just ten, wait till you’re sixteen in high school. You will miss homework this easy.”
“That doesn’t help me, I’m not sixteen yet. I have to do this homework now,” Jasper huffs and reluctantly picks up the pencil again.
“I know, baby,” Harry says quietly and starts running his hand up and down Jasper’s back. He used to love this as a baby, the motion used to always calm him down. Now Harry’s glad he’s at least not pushing him away since he’s just entered that age where he’s too cool for his parents’ love.
“Do you even know math, Daddy?” Jasper asks, a teasing grin on his face. “You’re not a real architect, you don’t have to do math.”
Harry gasps theatrically. “Excuse me, young man. Do you know how much math is involved in interior design? It’d make you sick. Even more than tickles.”
Jasper giggles as Harry’s fingers get to his sides and starts laughing out loud shortly. “No, Daddy, stop it. I’m not a baby anymore. I am tickle resistant.”
“Oh, are you, really?” Harry stops. “Are you math resistant though?”
Jasper looks at Harry with false agony. “Do I really have to do that homework?”
“Absolutely, you do,” Harry affirms him. “Now have a go at it yourself, I’ll go check up on your sister, okay?”
Harry gets off the living room floor, ruffling Jasper’s hair as he stands up. He walks out into the hallway,stopping at the bottom of the stairs. Calling out Delilah’s name, he doesn’t wait long before she’s sprinting down the stairs. Only she isn’t running to him, she’s shouting Elsie’s name and running after the invisible figure.
“Delilah, be careful!” Harry yells after her.
“Sorry, Daddy!” Delilah screams back before she and her imaginary friend disappear in the still not renovated library. It’s filled with junk from decades ago but there’s nothing dangerous, just old books and papers so he doesn’t mind her being in that room too much.
The front door behind Harry’s back opens, startling him. He turns around, only to see his husband coming in.
“Baby, hi,” Zayn says when he notices Harry. “I didn’t expect you home so soon. You were done with that client early?”
“Nope, they rescheduled for next week so I got home a few hours ago,” Harry explains while walking to Zayn, promptly putting his arms around his neck and kissing him. “Hi, babe.”
“Hey,” Zayn smiles before kissing him again. “What are the kids up to?”
“Well, Jasper’s slaving over math homework. And Delilah’s running around with Elsie.”
“I can’t believe she’s still entertaining that Elsie situation,” Zayn scoffs, detaching himself from Harry to take his shoes off. “But it still isn’t abnormal. Just… a bit disturbing when it’s my kid and not a case I read about in a textbook.”
“I tell myself every day that she’s just five, she’s going to grow out of it. It’s nothing, yeah?”
“Yeah,” Zayn nods. “Hopefully.”
“Daddy!” Delilah shouts.
They both look towards the library where Delilah’s poking out of the door. She’s grinning, obviously happy and not hurt or scared in any way so that’s a relief.
“Dad, you’re home!” she squeals. “Come here, both of you. Please. I want to show you what me and Elsie found!”
“Oh God,” Harry whines. “I hope it’s not black mold.”
“Well, I hope it’s not a dead body.”
“Zayn, shut up,” Harry exclaims. “I don’t need Jasper to hear you and go looking for one on the property because it isn’t an idea that’s too far fetched off.”
Delilah’s sitting on the dusty library floor when they get there, an old book laying open in front of her while she’s holding a piece of paper.
“Lila, don’t sit on that nasty floor,” Harry scolds her right as they walk inside. She promptly does as she was told, walking towards her dads with the paper.
The paper turns out to be an old photo and Harry sees a family in it when Delilah shoves it into his hand.
“It must be the previous owners,” Zayn mumbles as he takes the photo from Harry.
Harry drops down to Delilah’s level, who’s still grinning like she was at Disneyland. “Where did you find that, sweetheart?”
“Elsie showed me,” Delilah smiles. “She’s in the picture. With her mommy and daddy too.”
Harry lets out a shaky breath, his heart accelerating. “What? That’s not possible.”
“But that’s her, Daddy!” Delilah argues. She grabs the photo from Zayn’s hand and starts pointing at people. “This is Elsie. This is her mommy. And this is her daddy.”
Harry and Zayn share a look, a concerned one. Could it be true and Jasper was right all along? Harry doesn’t even want to consciously acknowledge that idea because since when is his life a cheesy B-rate horror movie?
“Do you have any more pictures of Elsie, honey?” Zayn asks Delilah then.
Delilah shakes her head. “This is the first one that Elsie showed me.”
“Why now?” Harry wonders, eyeing his daughter’s calm facade.
“I don’t know,” Delilah shrugs. “I wanted to see what her mommy looked like.”
“Oh, her mommy?” Harry raised his brows.
Delilah just nods.
Harry sighs, massaging his temples. “Can you go play upstairs, sweetheart? Dad and I need to talk.”
He’s eternally grateful that his daughter is always well behaved and listens to their parents. Delilah leaves the room without any protests, thankfully not taking the photo with her.
Harry looks at his husband, waiting for him to say something. He doesn’t though and Harry isn’t surprised because he’s at lost himself. They just watch each other for a moment, two parents worried about their child. Their faces project the thousands of thoughts milling over in their heads, desperately trying to make sense of it all.
“This has to have a rational solution,” Zayn says once the silence has grown unbearable. “The answer to all this can’t be fucking… ghosts. Fuck, I can’t believe I just said that.”
“How else can you explain the picture?” Harry wonders. “How else could she have an imaginary friend that looks exactly like the little girl who lived here like seventy years ago?”
“Haz, for fuck’s sake,” Zayn scoffs, running his hand through his hair. “Firstly, the little girl could only look similar to her imaginary friend. They’re both blonde with a fringe, that’s enough of similarities for a five-year-old to make that conclusion. Secondly, Delilah could’ve found more pictures here before and she just didn’t show us or maybe even forgot about it herself and then voila, you have her imaginary friend that looks like a previous resident of this house.”
“What if we looked into the history of a house and found a girl named Elsie?” Harry questions further. “What would you say then, Zayn?”
“The same fucking thing, Harry,” Zayn replies coldly. “I’m not going to suddenly believe our house is haunted or some shit just because Delilah has an imaginary friend that resembles a girl that used to live her. Do you have any other reason to believe that this house has some spirits or whatever, floating around?”
Harry takes a sharp breath, the memory of that dark figure standing over their bed coming back to him. It makes his heart beat faster, his blood stilling in his veins.
“No,” Harry says in spite of everything. It couldn’t have been real. Ghosts and figures and fucking shadow people can’t exist. He refuses to believe that his house could be a place full of spirits and souls that haven’t found peace. All of it has to have a rational explanation.
In that moment, he throws away all the doubts about Elsie and all that shit. She’s an imaginary friend.
“See?” Zayn says. “It’s all gonna be fine, babe. She’s just going through a phase, Jasper too for that matter.”
“I hope you’re right,” Harry sighs and wraps his arms around himself. The library is always so cold. It must be the old pipes not working properly and the room being isolated from others.
“I’m right,” Zayn breathes out a laugh. “Because if not… I don’t want to entertain that idea.
“I’m gonna go say hi to Jasper, check if he still needs help with that math homework.”
“Okay,” Harry nods. “I’ll just… hang around and try to clean some of this mess around.”
“Sure, babe. I’ll come help you in a bit,” Zayn says and he’s gone.
Harry lets out a huge breath, covering his face with his hands. He takes a few seconds to collect his thoughts before pushing his hair back and taking a look around the room. A desk, a chest of drawers, two huge shelves. It’s gonna take a while.
For some reason, Harry has chills all over his body and a sense of dread while opening the drawers and cabinets around the room. Maybe it’s the fear of what he’ll find. He chooses to believe it’s just the terrible fucking cold temperature in the room.
xxx
Harry is woken up by the sound of screaming. After a split second, even before he opens his eyes, he realizes it’s Delilah. He sits up so fast his head spins as the sound of screaming is getting closer and closer. Just as he starts shaking Zayn awake, the door opens and Delilah runs inside, shutting the door behind her forcefully and she throws herself on the bed, crawling to get in-between her dads.
“Jesus Christ, Lila, what’s going on,” Harry gasps, wrapping his arms around his crying daughter. “What happened, baby? Are you okay?”
“I- I had a nightmare, Daddy,” Delilah sobs. “There was Elsie and her- and her mommy and they- they hurt you and Dad and Jasper and I was alone and-”
“It’s okay, baby,” Zayn says as he sits up too, hugging Delilah from the other side. “You’re safe, you’re with us. No one can hurt you.”
“We would never let anyone hurt you or your brother,” Harry whispers into Delilah’s hair. “You know that, right?”
He can feel Delilah nod, her little body still shaking with sobs. There are tears on the named skin of Harry’s upper arm, some soaking into his t-shirt too.
The door opens then, a little voice saying “Dad?”. Harry twists his head to see Jasper standing there, half hidden behind the door.
“Are you alright, Jas?” Zayn asks.
Jasper nods, coming inside of the room fully and closing the door behind himself.
“Is Lila okay?” Jasper asks, still standing a few meters away from the bed, his hands clasped together in front of him, his fingers nervously moving and his nails nipping at the skin around his cuticles.
“She’s alright, just a nightmare,” Harry smiles wistfully. “You wanna join the hug pile?”
Jasper nods shyly and gets on the bed too, sitting cross-legged opposite Delilah. He gets pulled into the hug and even Delilah doesn’t mind. She’s stopped crying too, thankfully.
Harry gets this wonderful warm feeling in his chest, seeing his family together, just wrapped in one big hug. Another thing that almost made him cry is Jasper being worried about Delilah. He’s at that age where affection is too cool for him and his little sister is annoying but deep down, he’s still the sweet boy that used to never turn down a cuddle and stood over his sister’s crib for two hours when his dads first brought her home. At moments like this, Harry’s really fucking pleased with his parenting because the only thing he ever truly wants is for his kids to grow up to be nice and good people. It’s been working out quite well so far.
“Daddy, can you tell us a story?” Delilah asks then, looking up at Harry with wide hazel-green eyes, still rimmed with some remnants of tears.
“What kind of a story, baby?” Harry asks her as he brings his hand to her cheek, wiping the tears away with his thumb.
“Something funny,” Delilah mumbles and breaks away from the hug, sitting back and making herself comfortable against the headboard, snugly fit between her dads.
Harry proceeds to tell them a story about a group of cats that drank bad milk and started hallucinating. It gets a lot of giggles out of Delilah, and even a few from Jasper which Harry counts as a win, considering Jasper’s age. Zayn watches him with a smirk because he knows that story much too well since it’s a poorly disguised retelling of the time the two of them ate some shrooms at a frat party with their friends. After all, all the stories are real or whatever some people say.
The kids beg them to watch The Parent Trap when Harry finishes because apparently, they feel nostalgic for things they weren’t even around for. They indulge the kids, feeling bad because they haven’t had a lot of family time lately thanks to moving and now also renovating the library. Harry surely won’t miss all that junk from the library, especially the creepy kids’ drawing and the previous owners personal possessions. They didn’t keep a single thing and the room finally doesn’t make Harry’s skin crawl.
Halfway into the movie, Delilah asks if she has a lost twin sister too. Harry and Zayn just laugh, dismissing it with a no while Jasper calls her “silly” and says it’s just a movie. Then she asks for a sister, whining about how there are just boys in the house and she wants some girls there too. Apparently, Elsie doesn’t count because they’re not sisters. Someone mean would add that she can’t count under any circumstance because she isn’t real but thankfully, their little family isn’t mean to each other. Well, most of the time.
Delilah falls asleep before the movie ends, Jasper fighting with his eyelids before he follows her suit five minutes later. They’re both under the duvet with Harry and Zayn, sandwiched between the two of them. For a second Harry considers carrying them to their rooms but decides against it, in case Delilah gets another nightmare or wakes up alone and then freaks out.
“Delilah’s asking for a sister now,” Zayn chuckles, his voice down to a whisper.
Harry lifts his eyes up from where he was watching Delilah sleep, looking at Zayn before quirking his eyebrow. “Are you trying to suggest that we should have another baby?”
“I don’t know,” Zayn shrugs. “I don’t think so, actually. It just got me thinking, you know. When Lila mentioned it. We’re getting old so if we want any more kids, we should hurry up.”
Harry hums. “Not now. The whole moving situation is stressing me out and a baby on top of all that? Nope.”
“It feels right, I think. These two little hurricanes,” Zayn says, looking down at Delilah and Jasper.
“Well, tell that to Lila,” Harry chuckles and tucks a strand of hair behind Delilah’s ear. She stirs, burying her face into the pillow but she doesn’t wake up.
“We should get her a dog,” Zayn suggests. “Or a cat. Anything she wants really as long as it isn’t a sister or a snake or something.”
“It’s worth a shot,” Harry agrees.
“They’re getting so big,” Zayn sighs after they watch Delilah and Jasper sleep for a moment. “Where has the time gone?”
“I miss when they were babies,” Harry says. “Just so tiny and sweet. Barely ever cried, both of them. I could carry them around all day and cuddle them and they wouldn’t complain, just laugh. These days when Jasper lets me hug him I feel like I had just won the lottery. He’s such a big boy now.”
“Nearly a teenager,” Zayn adds. “Lila still thinks her dads are cool. And believe me that I cherish every moment when she willingly decides to spend time with us and isn’t huffing and puffing like Jasper when we kiss her.”
“Maybe Lila was onto something with that sister idea,” Harry teases.
“Haz, don’t even start,” Zayn scoffs with a playful smile. “I think the next diaper I want to see will be my grandchild’s, thank you.”
Harry shakes his head a little, trying to control his smile. “We should sleep too. We’ve still got work in the morning.”
“You’re right. Good night then. Love you.”
“Love you too. Night.”
As Harry’s falling asleep moments later, surrounded by the people he loves the most, he feels nothing but pure happiness. His kids are a fucking gift, two amazing children that are growing up to be so bright and wonderful Harry feels overwhelmed by it sometimes. He has a husband who loves him just as much as he did when they were still dumb kids in college and their love isn’t faltering or burning out. His dream career and dream house are just an extra really, even though he’s immensely grateful for them. What matters the most to him is his family, always and forever.
In the vulnerable peace between being awake and asleep, Harry fails to notice the creaking around the house. Perhaps it’s better that way.
xxx
Delilah wakes up slightly disoriented. She’s not in her room and there are people around her. After sitting up and rubbing her eyes, she realizes she’s in her dads’ bedroom and next to her is Jasper on her left, Daddy on her right and Dad on the other side of Jasper.
She yawns, rubbing her eyes again before looking around the room. She’s a bit chilly, but maybe it’s just the room. Her dads always put on extra clothes on her when they go out. Maybe grown-ups like their rooms colder. Because they’re grown-ups, of course.
Delilah stops her eyes at a dark figure at the foot of the bed. At first, she thinks it’s just Elsie wanting to join them but the lady is much taller than Elsie.
The lady must be Elsie’s mom, Delilah realized then. She’s wearing a long black dress and her hair’s pinned up. The fear kicks in then and Delilah’s breathing gets heavier, her breath growing more rapid. She can’t tear her eyes off of the lady.
Delilah’s eyes find the lady’s face and see the smile on her face. Their eyes meet a second later, Delilah seeing the same vibrant yet dull blue that Elsie’s eyes have as well.
The lady grins then, before putting her pointer finger in front of her lips and shushing. She takes a step to the left and disappears. Just like that.
Delilah finally feels like she can breathe again, her gaze no longer so painfully focused. And then she screams.