ALWAYS

I tapped my foot anxiously as we grew closer to the spot that we could get off the plane. I could see Enola's car not too far away. I was ready to be in her arms. I had missed her more than I thought possible. I knew that she was dying to have me holding her. She'd been texting me all morning to make sure I knew that she missed me.
"Harry, I swear to God, I'm going to kill you if you keep fidgeting like that." Paul snapped at me.
"I want to go home." I snipped back at him. Paul rolled his eyes. "I know you know I want to be home. Today is important to Enola."
"I think it's more important to you than it is to her. She doesn't care as long as the baby is healthy. She's a mum. That's all she wants." Louis chuckled.
I groaned, "Whatever. I'm ready to be done for a bit."
"Don't forget to ask her about the event tonight. Brynn is coming and so is Sophia. I think it would be nice for E to get out of the house." Niall suggested as we came to a complete stop. I nodded waving the thought away. I didn't even want to go.
"Harry, your attendance is required." Paul reminded me with a stern tone. I groaned and rolled my eyes. I picked up my bags and tried to ignore everyone. "Harry, you don't get to get out of this. You might as well ask her to go with since we have the ticket for it OR be a grouch all night because you're not with her." Paul snapped at me again.
"Can I please just think about the fact that I get to go find out if my wife and I are having a son or a daughter for like five minutes?" I growled at everyone. Liam and Louis shook their heads with smiles as Niall and Paul glared at me. "Finally!" I shouted as the door opened to let us off the plane. I rushed down the steps as soon as I was allowed. My jaw dropped when I saw Enola leaning against the car. Her belly was huge. I couldn't believe it. Enola smiled a bit when she saw the expression on my face. I hurried to her. I dropped my bags on the ground and fell to my knees in front of her. "What is this?" I asked with a smile, gazing up at her. I placed my hands on her stomach, unable to control the grin on my face.
"Your child who refuses to let me sleep at night because he won't stop moving." Enola replied with a giggle. I chuckled and pressed my lips to her belly. I stroked her growing stomach gently with my thumbs as I kissed her tenderly. Enola buried her hands in my hair, massaging my scalp a bit. I kept my lips on her belly and gazed up at her again. I could see the tears falling down her cheeks. "I love you." I murmured,resting my chin atop her belly. I knew that she was thinking of the time we spent in Italy when we first met. The couple we saw on the streets on Venice. It was ingrained in my mind as well.
"I love you more." She replied softly, the way she would've then. I grinned again, returning my lips to her stomach.
"Hey E." Niall's voice sounded really close. I stood carefully. Enola leaned into me as she smiled at Niall.
"Hi honey." Enola murmured to Niall.
"Feeling okay?" Niall asked pointing to her belly.
Enola nodded, "Yeah. I am actually. He's calm right now." Enola looked up at me, "I think he knows you're home." I shook my head and kissed her forehead.
"Well, that's good." Niall scratched the back of his head. "I hate to ruin whatever plans that you had for the night." Niall began.
"You better not tell me something I really don't want to hear." Enola grunted.
"We have an event tonight. Harry has to go. All of us do." Niall stated. Enola frowned deeply. "But we got it worked out so that Brynn, Sophia and you could come with us. I mean, if you feel well enough." Niall explained.
"Niall." I groaned. I didn't want him to talk to her about it. "I was going to ease into it." I informed him with a deep voice.
Enola looked up at me, "Do you want me to go with you?"
"I don't want to go at all." I replied softly. Enola giggled. "But since I have to, yes, I want you by my side."
"We can negotiate terms of my appearance in the car." Enola smirked at me.
"I can't wait." I chuckled and pressed my lips to her temple.
"I'll come with. I don't mind. It'll be fun to see Harry in that kind of situation." Enola smiled up at me again. "I've never gotten to do a work thing with you before." She reminded me. "That wasn't a show anyway." I nodded, hating that it was an actual fact.
"Alright. Car will be there at five to pick you guys up. It's about an hour drive." Paul informed us. "The boys will have red carpet things to do. You girls can decided together if you want to join them when we get there." Paul added.
"Okay. Okay. I will tell her all the details. I got it." I said shooing everyone away from us.
"We're going to be late for my doctor's appointment." Enola announced, also trying to get everyone to back off.
"Oh shit. We'll let you go then." Paul kissed Enola's cheek gently. "Good luck honey." He smiled at her. Enola released me then bent over to pick up one of my bags.
"No no no. I will do it." I took the bag from her hand, picking the others up as well. "Just get in. I'll drive." I kissed her head once more. Enola chuckled and did as I told her. She climbed into the passenger seat carefully, her hand holding her belly like she was protecting it.


Enola laid on the hospital bed, holding my hand and breathing slowly. She looked nervous and I didn't understand why. I caressed her hand with my thumb the way she would do to me if I were the one with the nervous expression. Enola looked over at me and smiled gently.
"What's going on in your head, baby?" I inquired like she would for me.
"I'm feeling just a little emotional." She replied with a shy smile. I kissed her hand lightly and chuckled. "I really just want her to get in here and tell me all about the baby." Enola stated softly.
I laughed a little, "Me too." Enola's smile weakened. "Everything is fine, right? He's okay?" I asked with a bit of worry. Enola bit her lip slightly. "Enola." My worry grew.
"I had to be put on oxygen a few days ago. I was really short of breath and his heart rate dropped slightly." Enola informed me. My heart was in my throat. Enola held my hand tighter, "Everything feels fine but I just want to know for sure."
"Why didn't you tell me? I've spoken to you every day this week." I felt slightly angry with her.
Enola frowned, "I didn't want you to worry if nothing was really wrong. I knew you were already struggling with being away from home, I didn't want to make things worse."
"Next time make it worse. I have every right to worry and to know what's happening with you and our baby. I need to know, Noli. How am I supposed to take care of you and the kids if you don't tell me what's going on?" I spoke lowly so the people outside the room wouldn't think that we were having an off moment.
"Harry, I've never had that happen before. Everything went perfectly with Darcy. I didn't know what was really happening. Brynn just brought me in because she was panicking over my shortness of breath." Enola replied quietly.
"So Brynn knew about it. And I'm guessing Sophia did too." I snapped at her. Enola rubbed her face roughly. "And no one thought it'd be a good idea to let me know that your health, my son's health was a little off." My tone was harsh.
"This is why I didn't tell you!" Enola grunted at me. "I'm fine. He's fine. He never stops moving or kicking. He's fine! I didn't want to worry you for no reason. Can you please not ruin this? I'm really excited to see if we've been using the right pronoun with him and you're making me angry." Enola snapped. "I know you care. I know that you want to know. I didn't want to make you worry when you didn't have to and you couldn't be here. If there was something seriously wrong, I would've told you. You know I would've told you."
I frowned and took her hand in mine, "I love you. I love our babies. I couldn't bare to lose any of you." Enola's face dropped and she held my hand tighter. I placed my hand on her large stomach and kissed her hand. I stood from the chair and pressed my lips to hers passionately. Enola cradled my head in her hand, keeping my lips against hers. I could feel her melting into the bed. "You're not allowed to keep these things from me anymore." I whispered as I broke the kiss. She nodded slowly, knowing that she wouldn't win the argument about it.
"Hey, is it safe to come in?" Enola's doctor asked from the doorway with a giggle. I sat down once again as Enola laughed and nodded. "Harry, good to see you again." The doctor smiled at me.
"Yeah. You too." I smiled politely but I was still a little angry with Enola.
"I'm assuming that he's found out about our little incident a few days ago?" The doctor asked. Enola nodded sadly. "Ah, well, it does happen to many women." The doctor tried to ease my worry and anger. "Mostly in cases where the mother is under stress, which after examining Enola, she was."
"What? Why? Why were you so stressed?" I asked snapping my head back to Enola.
"Wedding stuff. My mom, your mom, my sisters in law and Brynn were making me annoyed and all. It just got the better of me." Enola replied quietly. I grunted and shook my head.
"But she said that the fetus has been quite active since then, so we should be alright. But we can definitely check to be sure today." The doctor grinned, trying to stop the unspoken argument between Enola and I. I nodded, wanting to get on with it. "Alright, Enola, let's look at you first." The doctor smiled.

"Do you guys want to see baby?" Enola's doctor grinned. We both nodded quickly. She chuckled, "Just a moment." She stood and called for the ultrasound machine. I bounced my leg nervously. Enola tugged my arm lightly. I glanced at her questioningly.
"Kind of want you a little closer." Enola spoke shyly. I couldn't help but smile as I stood. Enola intertwined our fingers and made me lean over the bed a little bit. "This feels so much better with you here." Enola whispered as I ran my fingers through her hair. I squeezed her hand and stroked her skin. Finally, the girl who did the ultrasound came in the room.
"Hi E." The girl smiled at Enola. "Harry." She chuckled seeing me. "Good to have you here. Now Enola won't whine about it." She chuckled.
"Thank you, Suzie. Really." Enola grumbled as she started to set up. As Enola and I watched the girl set up, I could feel Enola's hands begin to tremble. I stroked her hair like I would when we were cuddled up to go to sleep. She seemed to relax a bit but she was still shaking a bit.
"Okay, it'll be cold." Suzie warned Enola before placing the gel on her stomach. Enola shivered a bit, making Suzie, the doctor and I laugh. "Aaaaaand there's baby!" Suzie announced once she found a good angle. Suzie and the doctor examined the monitor in silence, with Suzie taking pictures every few moments. They spoke quietly to each other, making sure that Enola and I wouldn't hear.
"Is he okay?" Enola sounded extremely worried. The way she gripped my hand proved that she had been more scared than she had let on.
The doctor smiled, "Your son is perfectly healthy."
"It's a boy?" Enola's voice cracked. The doctor and Suzie both nodded. Enola glanced up at me with tears in her eyes. She then rested her forehead on my chest. I felt her shoulders shake and I wrapped my arms around her. After just a moment I could feel her tears hitting my chest, making my shirt wet. Enola wound her arms around my waist and held me as tight as she could.
"Do you need a minute?" Suzie asked with sad eyes.
Enola backed away from me, still holding my hand with a vice grip, "No. No. It's okay." Enola looked at the monitor with a smile as she relaxed back into the bed. "I'm sorry." She nearly whispered.
"Don't be sorry." Her doctor grinned. "It's a happy time and your emotions are in overdrive because of your hormones."


Enola and I rode in the car silently. The only sounds were from the soft music playing on the radio and the sound of paper. She couldn't take her eyes off of the ultrasound pictures. I placed my hand on her stomach, waiting for the baby to move. I hadn't been able to feel him yet.
Enola placed her hand over mine, "I think he's sleeping right now." I smiled and nodded, even though I felt a little more than disappointed. "Don't worry. When I feel it, I'll let you feel too. He's mostly awake at night I think. It's hard to sleep sometimes. It's like he's doing somersaults in my uterus." Enola giggled. I chuckled as well. "I'm sorry I didn't call when I went in. I really didn't want to scare you."
"Yeah but you were obviously scared too. You should've just told me. Even though I wasn't home, it could've helped." I stated gently. Enola nodded and caressed my hand as I stroked her huge belly. "This isn't just my baby or your baby..." I began.
"Son." Enola corrected me with a huge smile.
"My son or your son, it's our son. I am here for you to lean on when you need it. I am here to take care of you. That's how this works." I assured her. She nodded slowly. "Dale's going to have to pay up." I chuckled after a moment. He and Enola had a bet going about what the sex of the baby was. Enola laughed as well but was stopped by her phone vibrating. "What's up?" I asked noticing a small change in her demeanor.
"Remember how you said it was your job to take care of me?" Enola asked.
I laughed, "You mean when I said it five seconds ago?" Enola grinned. "Yes." I answered curiously.
"That was Brynn. Darcy just went down for her nap." Enola slid her hand onto my thigh. I shook my head and smirked. I peaked over at Enola to see her chewing on her lip.
As we reached the stoplight, I leaned over and kissed her roughly, "Anything you want."

Notes