Finally, the day before tour had come, and with it, it brought my first full, complete three months of pregnancy. I was already thirteen weeks, and if I lifted my shirt to reveal my bare belly, I looked like I had eaten a huge meal. I was finally starting to see changes to my body.

Harry and I had left it so late to make an appointment for our first check up that we were worried if we could even make one. And then, there was the difficulty of providing a distraction to the press.. entering a hospital, together, hand-in-hand would probably start off the rumour mill.

I had never felt more grown up in my life laying out on that chair. I looked at Harry, who looked just as scared as I did but of course he gave me a solid reassuring look.

The doctors and nurses were highly paid and private, and not at my request. Harry just insisted on paying for the best care. The jelly hit my stomach and I took a deep breath, terrified. What if something was wrong? What if they were twins?

“There you go,” The nurse said, smiling as she spoke and doing so easily as if this was her four hundredth baby ultrasound. “Everything is normal. There’s your baby’s head, and that is it’s toes."

There was just this eerie silence in the room and I knew Harry was shocked. We had both had to grow up so fast for this moment and it still didn’t feel real.

“Can you.. can you tell what the sex is?” I asked, unable to control my smile.
“Well, not very accurately at this point. I’d say at your next scan. The baby is moving around a lot, as you can see.” She laughed. “I think you have a bit of an acrobat on your hands."

The baby is moving around a lot. The baby. It’s moving. In me.

Harry seemed to have lost the ability to speak but suddenly perked up. “That’s incredible,” He smiled, and I saw tears in his eyes. I smiled and put my hand on the back of his neck. He kissed my free hand. “Thank you,” he said to the nurse. “Thank you so much.”
“Of course, Mr. Styles. You’ll both have made a very beautiful baby in there. I’ll let you get cleaned up."

Harry stood up and went over to the monitor quickly, while the image was still on there. He snapped a photo on his iPhone. He shoved it in his pocket and held out his arm to let me off the bed.

We had to fill out a little bit of paperwork, and then we were on our way. When we got closer to the doors, and to the bodyguards waiting for us, we knew we’d been rattled. My heart sunk. Hundreds of paparazzi and people were outside

“Sorry, H. Someone followed us on the way here.” Paul said, “The car is literally two meters away.”

I was devastated. I knew what people would think. I kind of just wanted this to be our secret forever. Harry looked at me apologetically and nodded. Paul took hold of me, and another guy took hold of Harry. Masses of people crowded around us, and it seemed like an eternity before we made the confines of the car.

Harry grabbed me and gave me a look that said don’t worry. He pulled out his phone and placed the picture on his lap. The name at the top said James, A. - Styles, H. It all made it very real.

“Styles.” He smiled in disbelief and shook his head. “Baby Styles.”
“The one and only.” I smiled.
“I love you.” Harry said. “Thank you for.. having my baby? Does that sound too weird? I didn’t mean it to.” He grinned awkwardly.
“Stop talking, babe.”

---

WTF?! HARRY AND ANNIE SEEN LEAVING A HOSPITAL?! IS THIS NOT SUSPICIOUS TO ANYONE ELSE?
it’s true. annie and harry left a hospital in london today. some people are saying harry had a baby scan photo in his hand. imagine if she’s pregnant omg
How is Harry Styles going to be a dad? He’s just a kid!
Annie James is pregnant?!
NOOOO! I Knew that bitch would take him away from us! Now they’re having a kid WTF!

Those were just a few of my twitter mentions, as I laid out on the bus on the way to our hotel. We’d just endured a 17-hour stopover and flight from London to Argentina. Exhausted didn’t cut it. I was delirious.

Gemma had surprised me. Harry had asked her to come along for some of the tour, sensing that I’d probably need some girl company. My head rested on her lap, as she was fast asleep.

I couldn’t believe the news had basically leaked about Harry and I. We wouldn’t confirm it yet, but it was so obvious.

hiii. you and our baby are too far away from me .xx Harry texted me.
Harry, I’m in the bus behind your car.I laughed as I replied.

Gemma stirred.

Finally, we were at the hotel.

Harry was literally waiting at the foot of the steps to the bus when I opened the door. Gemma stepped off first, and Harry wrapped his arm around me, leading me into the hotel.

Something about Harry’s face had changed as he walked us into that lobby. His jaw was clenched and he wasn’t the friendly, jokey person he seemed over texts. I noticed Gemma looking at him, awkwardly, and I wondered what this was all about.

When I dropped my hand down to feel for Harry’s so I could clasp them together, he barely reciprocated my movement. We were all silent as we came up the lift. As I looked at the siblings, I wondered if I had missed something.

Harry and I made our way into our room and Gemma did the same, next door.

“Baby?” I asked, creeping over to him.

Harry looked down at me and sighed. He pulled me to his chest.

“What is it?” I asked, playing with the chain that adorned his chest. Harry took my chin and turned it to face him.
“Do you follow Will on twitter?” He asked me. What a weird thing to ask. I looked at him, confused.
“No, of course not. I unfollowed him.”
“Then you wouldn’t have seen his latest tweets?”
I shook my head no.
Harry pulled out his phone and thrust it at me.

Funny to hear the news about a certain two completely clueless kids having a baby.
After three years, you’d think she’d miss me. Nope, already letting some rock star get her pregnant. Trash.

“Why won’t you let me do anything?” Harry sighed, running a hand through his hair. “I want nothing more than to really, really hurt him.”
“Harry,” I scorned, throwing the phone on the bed. “Who gives a fuck what Will says? I thought we were over this?”
“Well is he right? I mean three years.. that’s a long time to spend with someone. Are you really as in love with me as you say you are?”
“Harry.” I sighed, gritting my teeth. Normally I would have just persuaded him and let it slide to avoid the confrontation, but he was being plain stupid. I pointed at my stomach. “Your baby. Your DNA. I’m with you whether you like it or not. Who cares that we were together three years! That was mostly just through force of habit anyway. He never made me as happy as you do.”

Harry nodded, holding his arm out to me and dropping his head in defeat.

“Annie?” He asked, after a while. I looked up at him. “What are the rules concerning sex?"

I gave a huge laugh. Harry’s face was serious, but I could see that familiar cheeky grin on his lips.

“Well.. I would say,” I placed my hand on his shirt collar. “That if one was to be extremely careful, there’s no harm..”
“How careful?” Harry asked, placing his hand on my hip.
“No bruises.” I said, honestly. Because I always had a few of those every time we were together.

Harry and I made use of the spare hour we had together, sleeping together for the first time since I found out I was pregnant. He was a completely different lover. Gentle, soft. We made love, basically, and we never made love.

“Annie?” Harry asked, peering up at me from resting on my stomach. I nodded. “Shall I put the photo on instagram?”
“The scan picture? Is that such a good idea? I mean, Simon said-“
“I know what Simon said, Annie, but this is our baby.”
I nodded. Valid point.
“Please. I have such a good caption. You can do it too."

Harry fiddled with his iPhone for a few seconds and then held it up to my face. The caption read Dadstagram.

“Are you even going to add ’stagram’ on the end of that?” I asked, cocking one eyebrow.
“Absolutely, Annie, I’m not just doing this half-heartedly.” He turned to rest his head on his fist. “Now you upload it. And caption it Mumstagram.”
“Harry!” I laughed. “Fine."

We agreed not to check our mentions or replies until the following morning. I don’t think anybody expected the media uproar. Harry and I were really playing with fire. We couldn’t leave the hotel until police back up had been called. We were on the cover of every single paper and magazine, and that was in South America. We had supposedly been on repeat on E!, and all over the radios. I could barely navigate my phone because every second a message or notification flooded in from somewhere. One mention bothered me.

@KendallJenner Wish nothing but the best for two wonderful people. @Harry_Styles @AnnieJames

Oh yeah. Sure.

Apart from that, the support was amazing. Of course there were some people who said some disgusting, hurtful things, but we managed to overlook them.

We were ready to go on a journey. We were ready to share this pregnancy with everyone. We were finally ready for our baby.

Notes