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There was no mistaking Ivy as she walked across the overly pretentious Hampstead private school lot to the parked Range Rover opposite. At sixteen years of age, she was five foot nine and all legs. Her long, fawn brown hair dangled in loose waves around her shoulders, framing the burgundy school tie and blazer beneath it.

“Hi, Mum.”

Ivy spoke softly but ever-so-confidently. Annie was thankful that growing up around Harry’s northern twang had given Ivy’s voice a unique edge.

“How was school?” Annie squinted at the road in front of her. She had forgotten her reading glasses and knew Ivy was about to chastise her for it.
“Can you see the road, Mum?” She said, looking seriously from her mothers youthful, soft features to the tarmac in front.
“Does dad know Ivy’s going on a date?”
“Noah!” Annie warned, blinking at him in the reflection of the rear-view mirror, to the cheeky, mischievous grin plastered on his lips as he sprawled against the back seat. Ivy looked from her eleven year-old brother, drenched in mud, fresh from football practice, to her mother, with a horrified look on her face.
“Mum!” Ivy dropped her head into her hands. “I told you not to tell anyone!”
“Oh Angel, it completely slipped my mind.” Annie flipped a strand of brown hair from her face. “I’ll cover for you, I promise."

Annie, Ivy, Noah, and probably even Louie knew the danger of Harry finding out about Ivy’s first ever cinema date with a rather dashing young boy from the school opposite. It had started with brief chats while they waited for their mothers to pick them up, and then evolved to iMessage almost twenty-four hours a day. Ivy drove a hard bargain, she was fiercely independent and head-strong, and showed no interest in boys. But with all of the other girls in her year having been on at least five different dates in the past month, she couldn’t help but feel like she was missing out on something, and so, agreed to go out for a few hours with Luke.

Ivy was full of dread as she stepped through the door behind her mother. Noah gave her a look that told her he was going to squeal on her to their father at any opportunity.

“What’s the sad face for?” Ivy jumped when she heard her fathers voice from behind her. “No ballet today?”
“I did, but I didn’t.. I mean I missed it.” She shook her head and avoided his eyes, the same eyes as hers. “I mean I’m not going tonight.”
“Why not?” Harry wrapped an arm around her shoulder, despite the difficulty of her being almost as tall as he was. Ivy went to ballet every Friday, without fail, since the age of four.
“Ivy’s going on a date with some loser.” Noah. Ivy would strangle him if she could get her hands on her younger brother.

The tension in the room was thick. Louie was at the dining table filling out this weeks homework, but his pen soon stopped when the words left Noah’s mouth.

Annie winced, watching as Harry looked up at her for an excuse.

And Ivy sloped carefully out of her fathers grip.

It was all in jest, really. Ivy was so incredibly close to Harry that she had made her mother swear to not tell him about her little date. He was so protective over her that she was pretty sure he’d insist on dropping her off at the door of the theatre and picking her up from the exact same spot. She was sixteen, but she had never stopped being his little girl.

“Did you know about this?” Harry questioned Annie, pacing towards her. “She’s sixteen! She’s too young to be going out on her own, let alone on a date!”
“Ivy.” Annie nodded for her and her baby brother, Louie, to leave the room. She gathered him under her arm and quickly closed the door.
“She’s not going on a date, Annie, that’s fucking-“
“Harry, stop!” Annie was trying to hide the amused smile playing on her lips while she practically watched her husband breathe fire. She brought her arms up around his neck and traced her fingertips along the nape. “She’s sixteen.”
“She’s a child.”
“She’s not.” Annie quickly interjected. “Remember what you were doing when you were sixteen?”
“That’s differen-“
“It’s not, Harry. Remember what every other sixteen year old was doing at the time. She’s a good girl, Harry. She’s just growing up. It’s just a little date. I’ve met him, he’s very sweet..”
“I’m sure he is, but he’s not good enough for Ivy-“
“Harry!” Annie was laughing now, and even Harry had a smile on his face, knowing how ridiculous he sounded.
“She’s growing up.” He said, sadly.
“They all are.” Annie cocked her head to one side in thought. “And so are we. We’re supposed to be cool parents. You’re thirty seven, you’re about as laid-back as a sixty year old.”
“No dates, Annie, I mean it. She’s sixteen-“
“So you keep saying..” Annie pressed her lips to Harry’s. “Noah is such a little-“
“He’s my insider, he keeps me in the know between you two girls.” Harry tightened his grip around his wife, still taking the time to admire how pretty she looked today, in a white shirt dress and tanned flat boots.

“Er.. Luke’s here.” Ivy sounded apprehensive and Annie gave her a reassuring smile to assure her she had worked on her father and her date would keep his balls this evening.
“He drives?” Harry had his hands on his hips and was heading towards the front window. “He’s what.. seventeen? Is he responsible enough to be driving at that age?”

Harry glanced at Annie who looked totally unamused, her face screaming “you drove an Audi at the age of seventeen, you hypocrite."

“Do you want me to drive you, instead?”
“Daaaaaaaaaaadddd!” Ivy groaned, tearing her hair at the seams.
“I want you home before ten or I will never let you out of this house again-“
“Harry!” Annie could see the discontent written on Ivy’s face. She knew that her father was simply protective and cautious to let his first born go out of the house, with a boy, alone, for the first time, but she wished like hell he would stop cringing her out.
“Ten, Ivy. I mean it. Otherwise I’ll be waiting outside to pick you up myself.” He said, seriously. He pulled her into a hug and was oblivious to the first and second time Ivy tried to pull away after around thirty seconds. He was feeling something he couldn’t understand. She didn’t depend on him anymore. She was growing up and depending on herself.

---

Annie frowned from the confines of her and Harry’s bed, thirty minutes in to Knocked Up. All she could hear were the tinny sounds of a bad recording coming from the floor below. She hoisted herself up out of bed, grimacing from the gym session she had taken earlier that day. She didn’t seem to understand how she had been nineteen years old with a taut tummy and skinny legs what seemed like only yesterday. Three babies had meant a lot of hard work to keep her youthful body.

Her chocolate brown hair fell into her eyes as she leaned over the bannister, just about able to make out the television screen below and the voices coming from it. She knew immediately what it was.

“Go back over there, angel. Over there with Mummy. Daddy will be five minutes. No, no.. oh, God. You want a cuddle. Alright.” Harry.
“We’ll all give you a cuddle Ivy.” Louis.
“Group hug, Ivy.” Liam.
“When Ivy Styles wants a cuddle, the interview stops. Ivy Styles, everyone."

Harry was watching old videos, alone.

So many things had happened that Harry had had to deal with in his life but he couldn’t help but feel like seeing Ivy grow up and tug away and gain her own independence, leaving him somewhat in the shadows, was by far the worst. Ivy always had been, and still was, his best friend, his second shadow. He had never felt as wanted and as needed as he did by her. Probably because she was first, probably because she was his only little girl. Probably because he felt like he had to protect her from the world because she came at the height of his career. Probably because he had failed to protect her in the past, and it had made him even more determined to.

Annie decided against disturbing him. Instead she went back up to bed and admired just how much Harry adored his children. Admired just how much Ivy meant to him that her going on one four hour date sent his heart into overdrive.

Ivy was in the door at exactly ten. She rounded the corner into the lounge and smiled instantly at the image of herself, so young and titchy with big green eyes.

“How old was I there?!” She laughed, bringing her thin fingers to cover her mouth in disbelief. “When was this?!”

Harry hadn’t even heard her come in, he was that deep in thought.

“We had just played Wembley Stadium for the first time. Only six.” He said, answering both questions at once. “How was the date?"

Ivy sighed and shook her head.

“No good?” Harry didn’t know whether to feel relief or anger that this young man hadn’t swept Ivy off her feet.
“Boring.” Was all Ivy said. Harry raised the side of the blanket and Ivy scooted beside him.
“You let me interrupt your interview all of these times?” She said, still giggling at herself. “I was really rude, dad. Jesus.”
“You weren’t rude, perhaps a little love-spoilt.” He chuckled, pressing her nose playfully with his index finger. She was the spitting image of him in all of her facial expressions. He couldn’t believe that the same little baby he held in his arms when he was only twenty one years of age was the same teenager sitting beside him with her long legs resting on the coffee table and mascara painted on her eyelashes. Make-up. God, how did he not notice when she started wearing make-up?

He couldn’t understand how Annie could be so chilled when it came to Ivy. Much more fussy over Noah’s grades or Louie’s politeness. But then, Annie had never understood Harry or Ivy.

“You’ve always got your old man. Even though you’re all grown up and independent, now.”
“You’ll always be my best friend, dad.” She said, simply, and continued to watch the huge television screen in front of them. “Oh my God, is that baby Noah naked running around the pool?!” She fished out her iPhone. “I’ll get him back for snitching on me.” She said, and pointed the camera at her little brother.

Notes

Hi everyone! Hope this is cute! I’ve written the first part of my new story and just did this as I had nothing to do!
I’m dying over the pic Niall uploaded of Harry and Ashton in Sweden. Too much for one photo.