Cords, lights, and flashing.

“Turn this way Harry.”

“Aria, can I get you next to Harry?”

“Darcy darling look over here.”

“Can someone try to get Jamie’s attention?”

“Everyone look up.”

That was pretty much the sum of my morning.

My home was complete chaos, with photography equipment and more people then I could remember having here milling about.

As I rearranged myself with Jamie on my lap and Aria and Darcy beside me, I realized how immune I was to it all and how odd it must be for them.

Taking pictures and forcing smiles was natural to me, not them.

Aria shifted awkwardly in accordance to Freddie’s, the photographer for this session, whim and Darcy was quickly losing interest in the whole thing. Jamie, who for the most part had been a complete ham for the camera, was starting to get fussy as we slid into our second hour of photos.

I couldn’t help feel the little pang of guilt I had for dragging them into this world.

And all the while eyes were glued to us.

Well, many eyes were watching but one set in particular was very intent in every single move we made.

It was unnerving and made me feel like we were under a microscope, more than usual anyway because in the corner of my back garden sat the interviewer.

She looked friendly enough but I knew that behind that smile she was just dying to dig into my once very privet life.

It was something that needed to be done, however.

I knew that, especially after the dozen or so meetings that led up to this moment, but I still didn’t like it.

“Daddy, I’m tired of smiling.” Darcy sighed leaning back into Aria while pouting up at me as we all sat on the grass in the garden.

I glanced up at Aria who was too busy shifting her eyes around the patio nervously; even she looked ready to tip over from the long morning.

I hate this.

Not for the first time I felt myself get angry at the situation. This was one of the things I wanted to keep them from. I didn’t want them to be here in this aspect of my life, working right alongside me in my crazy career because the world felt they deserved to know everything about us.

I had to remind myself that this, as inconvenient and annoying as it was, was a means to an end regarding the constant presence outside our home.

We needed this to be able to settle in to some form of normal again, although it would never be quite the same after all that had happened.

I wondered what Miss Interviewer could have possibly been thinking as she watched Aria and I switch Jamie and Darcy around though out the duration of the photo-shoot, how Darcy was as comfortable with Aria as she was with me or the way Jamie rested trustingly against me like it was natural; the comfort we all had with each other.

I hoped she did.

I wanted this story; the one thing management had all our hopes riding on, to give an accurate depiction of us. I wanted our fans and all the critics that had been bashing me for keeping this all a secret to understand us and understand why I would want to keep this untainted by my crazy world.

I needed them to.

“Alright. I think I have what we need here.” Freddie said after he pulled the camera away from his face for the last time. He shot Aria and I a smile as we stood from our spots sprawled on the floor watching Darcy play with Jamie. “You have a beautiful family.”

It was the first time someone had said something like that to me, to us.

Something in my chest fluttered at the way he said those words. Not two individual people with children but one set of parents with two children. It was something I could very easily get used to.

“Alright Isabelle, they are all yours. Try to go easy on them yea?” Freddie said over his shoulder as he shot us a conspiring smirk.

Miss Interviewer, aka Isabelle apparently, smiled warmly at us as she made her way past Freddie and over to where we were slowly getting Darcy and Jamie up from the grass.

“Hello I’m Isabelle, but you can call me Izzy.” She held her hand out to me which I quickly shook. Aria followed along, although slightly less at ease then I was, before Izzy leaned down to be eye level with Darcy. “Hello darling. Do you mind if I talk to your daddy and… erm…”

Izzy’s eyes lifted towards Aria and I, clearly unsure of what Darcy referred to Aria as. I was sure that would be a question that we would address in the interview to follow.

“She’s just Aria for now… but one day she’ll be my mummy. Jamie and I are going to share and daddy will be his daddy too.”

I was always told to be careful with Darcy, because apparently children say the darnedest things, but I had never had an issue with it before.

Not like now when my daughter decided to share that gem of a thought with none other than the woman who held our fate in her article writing hands.

As I glanced over at Aria, I found her already staring at me with wide eyes and a dropped jaw, clearly not sure how to recover from Darcy’s admission. Weather it was about who she said it to or what she said I was unsure but right now wasn’t the time to figure it out.

And all the while Izzy watched us.

“Right well, love, do you mind if I have a moment with them?” Izzy said with a large smile on her face as she returned her attention to my beaming daughter.

Darcy glanced up at me and Aria in question. All I could do was sigh, not at all looking forward to what followed.

“Lou?” I turned towards my good friend and stylist, who stood off to the side after having helped get us ready for the shoot. She quickly made her way over to us smiling gently at Aria as she took a sleepy Jamie from her arms.

I turned to Darcy and ran my hand over the pleat Lou had made in her hair earlier. “Can you go with Lou and Jamie while Aria and I talk to Izzy, baby?”

Darcy’s eyed the Isabelle warily from the corner of her eyes before looking from me to Aria and back. I knew she could sense the tension drifting off of both Aria and I so I smiled reassuringly, a gesture that Aria mirrored for Darcy’s benefit. “Okay daddy.” Her little arms wrapped around my legs quickly before releasing me and doing the same to Aria.

As soon as Lou was out of the room, Darcy and Jamie in tow, Aria and I simultaneously turned to Isabelle.

Aria’s hand shot back out towards mine to grasp it tightly.

I slid my fingers in between hers and squeezed reassuringly, letting her know that I wasn’t going to let this woman intimidate her, even if she slightly intimidated me.

This would be my first interview without any of the boys as back up or buffers after all.

No Louis to crack jokes to take the attention away, or Liam to bring focus back onto the right topics, or Zayn to answer an uncomfortable question, or Niall to jokingly take the blame.

I was on my own.

And for Aria, I knew I had to take charge and not dwell on that fact.

From this moment on we were a unit, Aria and I, and I was going to make sure that came across as unintrusively as possible in the next hour or so that this woman shot questions at us.

“So how about we sit down for this?” Isabelle suggested tilting her head towards the sofa behind us.

As soon as we were all seated the questions began.

“So tell me about the children.”

It started off simple enough, but I knew better.

I answered as Aria watched on; still trying to figure out from my example what was the best way to answer these questions.

Simple and general. Those were the rules of thumb with interviews like these.

Answer the questions but don’t get too deep. Give something but not everything.

And when it came time for Aria to talk about Jamie I beamed proudly as she followed those rules perfectly.

Of course we had been coached beforehand but she managed to make it look like nothing of the sort had happened.

We both managed to answer the pressing questions about our children’s parentage without going into too much detail.

“So tell me Harry, why keep this all a secret?”

I knew it was coming but I was still thrown off by it, my cool demeanor cracking only for a second before I regained it and focused on answering.

“I thought it would be easier for Darcy, and later Jamie and Aria, if I kept them out of it. I didn’t mean to upset the fans by lying to them. It was never my intention to do that. We have wonderful fans that mean the world to the boys and I.”

Aria sent me a small smile from beside me at my quick answer to a very complex situation.

“Aria do you regret, or even resent, all this getting out?”

It was at this question aimed specifically at Aria that I remembered how truly screwed up this all was.

I was prepared for this but Aria looked like a deer in head lights as she fidgeted next
Because the truth was, she had to lie.

This whole situation was forcing her to lie to the world because we both know that she was resentful of it coming out right now, with us as a couple still being so new, hell I was resentful of it, but she couldn’t really say that either and as I watched her try to think of an answer that would be passable all I wanted to do was find out who outed us and kick their ass.

“Um…” she cringed at her own voice, knowing that um’s and ugh’s were frowned upon in interviews according to our coach. “Well, I wouldn’t say that exactly, I just wish it would have been on our terms, I guess.”

It was a good response, and I was more than pleased with it, but she looked at me like she had said too much.

“Well you two certainly look very comfortable with each other, there is an ease between you two and your children. How long have you been living together?”

Slick move Izzy.

It, luckily, hadn’t been leaked that Aria had been my nanny and if I had anything to do with it that would remain out of the public’s knowledge. I didn’t want people to make any kind of misguided assumptions from that bit of information.

“We’ve been living together for a while now.” I answered simply hoping that was a sufficient answer.

“It seems like forever though. I can’t remember a time we weren’t together.”

Izzy’s inquisitive eyes shifted from me and my insufficient answer to Aria and her vague non-answer to end the question.

Even I was a bit stunned at her quick recovery.

All Aria did in response was smirk at me and wink as I tried to convey my gratitude through my eyes.

A few more mundane, and a few not so mundane, questions later and Izzy was out the door, my home once again quiet and peaceful.

As soon as Aria had shut the door behind Isabelle I had my arms wrapped around her waist pulling her back into me and my lips attached to the soft skin just under her ear.

It was a new addiction of mine to feel her body pressed up into me whenever we were alone, ever since the night I had finally been able to take her, in my bed like I promised I would all those nights ago when she shattered the mug on my kitchen floor.

She was a drug and I couldn’t get enough. But more then that I was in love with her and I couldn’t get enough.

It had been hard enough not constantly touching her all morning but now we were alone, Lou lost somewhere upstairs with the children, and I was once again allowed to put my hands all over my beautiful girl.

“You are wonderful.” I murmured into her neck in between kisses.

Her bubbly giggle was my answer while she spun around in my arms to attach her lips to mine.

It was such a lovely sound; I wanted to hear her giggling all the time.

I knew I should talk to her about our morning, like making sure she was okay after it all and perhaps address Darcy’s little blurb from earlier but I couldn’t find enough will power to pull myself away from her soft lips and warm body.

We probably would have ended up stumbling into one of the more privet rooms downstairs if it hadn’t been for the knock at the door.

Aria attempted to pull away but I nipped at her lip and tightened my arms around her. It was likely one of Freddie’s assistants coming back for some forgotten item, or Izzy, either way they could wait after the morning we had been subjected to.

Another knock and Aria giggled while smacking my chest, once again pulling away soliciting a moan of displeasure from my lips.

“No…” I whined as she untangled herself from my grasp.

“The sooner I answer the sooner we can continue.” She reasoned causing me to quickly release her and allow her to send our uninvited guest away. I gestured towards the door with an exaggerated flourish of my hand.

She smirked over her shoulder at me as she opened the door.

Her eyes slowly turned from me to the two people I could see standing on the other side.

A woman and a man, not photographers.

They looked nonthreatening enough but the gasp that left Aria’s lips let me know that looks could be deceiving.

Quicker than I had moved all morning I was by her side pulling her hand into mine so I could tug her behind me protectively.

Just as I was going to demand who they were and why they were here, Aria spoke.

“What are you doing here?” she breathed out, her once smiling and flushed face now held a petrified look on pale skin.

I glared at the couple before me with furrowed brows, more than a little confused… until the man spoke.

“I’m here to see my son Aria.”

Notes

Hello Kiddies.
So I really have no excuse for my lack of updates. I suck.

I also am not too fond of this chapter because I had MAJOR writers block (a first for The Nanny) and couldn’t figure out how to get the interview out of the way to get to the good stuff. The longer it took me to write this the more I realized that I didn’t actually have anything worth writing about during the interview. (You’ll understand why later)
I really had a tough time trying to decide who's POV to write it in also and for a moment I wrote, then deleted, a version in both their POV's but it didn't flow right so I ended up writing it in Harry's because when it came down to it Aria's pov sounded to whiny and I couldn't figure out how to change that. Besides I liked Harry’s POV better for the end.

Anyway I must apologize for giving you this blah chapter after the long wait but now that more drama is starting I hope to be able to get a chapter out to you guys soon.

I probably wont be able to update weekly like before because school, work and life kinda get in the way but I will try my hardest to not make it as long as this time.

Anyway that is all I hope you guys enjoy and please let me know what you think, especially about the end there.

Also someone suggested writing this chapter in the photographers POV and I thought that was kind of a great idea so I may or may not be doing that and posting it on tumblr on my story blog (which is slowly just becoming a One Direction blog because I can) If you want to check that out its Slushibubblesfics.tumblr.com
Love you kiddies. And PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!