I watch with the biggest grin on my face while Harry plays with Jackson, who lies on his back on Harry's legs. Harry has one large hand over his belly, gently shaking it while the other has one finger trapped by five tiny ones. When I shuffle closer to him and rest my arm against the back of the couch, folding it so my hand is against the back of his neck, he turns and smiles at me quickly.

"He's so adorable," I murmur.

"Looks like his uncle," Harry says proudly.

I laugh and roll my eyes and Harry tickles the baby once again. He kicks his legs out and I lean my head against Harry's shoulder, pulling my knees up onto the couch.

"You aren't terrorizing my child are you?" Gemma calls from the kitchen.

"Only a little," he calls back.

"Don't tickle him too much, I just fed him," she says.

"He's fine," Harry retorts, putting his under Jacksons arms and holding him in a sitting position. "Right buddy?"

"Harry," I warn as he starts bouncing him.

He doesn't listen, and a few minutes later the contents of Jackson's breakfast spews from his mouth and onto Harry's jeans. I can't help but laugh at the mess while Harry's face twists in disgust.

"I told you," Gemma says, coming around the couch and taking the baby, a cloth already in her hand.

"Awesome," Harry grunts. When I continue to laugh he glares at me. "Stop laughing!"

"He puked on you." I point and laugh more, falling onto my other side. He slaps my ass- quite hard- making me yelp. When he stands he walks around the other way so I can't get him back.

Harry disappears up the steps to go change, Gemma taking his seat next to me. I sit up again so I can continue staring at the cute little infant.

"Can you take him?" Gemma asks. "I have to take a quick shower."

"Yeah, go ahead," I insist, taking Jackson from her. She kisses his cheek and disappears upstairs as well.

Anne and Brad stand behind me in the kitchen, and Jackson's eyes wander every time Brad's voice gets a little louder since he can recognize his father's tone. I coo at him, making cute little baby noises and clicking my tongue, trying to get some kind of reaction. When Harry's heavy steps come back down the stairs he sits next to me again, holding his hands out for his nephew.

"It's my turn." I turn a bit away from him and sit Jackson on my legs.

"Babe." I shake my head and he groans. "Come on, just five minutes. Then you can have him back."

"Or," I reason, "I'll hold him for five more minutes and you can have him then."

"Alright fine, but I'm counting."

"Ten minutes."

"You said five. That's what I'm going with."

"Nine," I compromise again, turning my head towards him. His eyes flicker down to my lips as he smirks at me.

"Six."

"Eight. Final offer."

He sighs and pecks my lips once. "Fine. You're lucky I love you."

I know that I am when he looks at the baby and makes a goofy face. A squeal akin to laughter erupts from Jackson and the whole room goes quiet. I look back at Harry and he seems dumbfounded as he stares at the baby.

"Did he just laugh?" he asks quietly. He turns towards the kitchen and I hear footsteps behind us. "Brad, has he laughed before?"

"No," he says, sitting on the armrest beside me. "He hasn't. Don't tell Gem, though, she'll be so upset."

"I made him laugh!" Harry says proudly. He pokes Jackson's belly and Anne bends down beside me to look at him as well. "I made him laugh first. Everyone knows it."

"Oh, grow up," Anne says, softly hitting the back of Harry's head.

"Whatever mum," he says, sitting back again with his hand on my leg. "I made him laugh."

"Seriously, Harry. Your sister will hurt you if she finds out. She's been reading all kinds of books and wondering why he hasn't yet. Don't tell her," Brad repeats.

"Alright," Harry laughs.

With so many people around I feel weird holding Jackson, so I hand him off to Harry and just watch him play with the baby again. Harry is so good with him, it's incredible. How can you not have kids of your own but be that good with one? I have no idea. I don't think I'm bad with kids, but I haven't been around them much so I don't have a lot of practice.

"How are you so good with him?" I ask quietly. He shrugs.

"I used to volunteer at the community centre on the weekends to get out of my house and I spent a lot of time in the kids section."

"Can't get enough of those picture books, can you?" I tease. He laughs and holds Jackson up so he's standing, but his legs aren't quite strong enough and his knees give out a lot.

"I would read to them or let them read out loud to me," he explains. "They had a daycare and nursery thing too and I'd help out when one of the ladies couldn't make it. It was fun."

I just stare at the side of his face for a few moments while he laughs a little at the faces Jackson is making. I wasn't sure it was possible for me to love him more, but I was wrong. The man he is right now doesn't even make sense to me; he comes from such a troubled past, one with a lot of pain and horrible memories, but he's so perfect. He's happy and carefree, he loves kids, he's smart and kind and generous. I couldn't have imagined someone more perfect.

"What?" he asks, turning to look at me. I lean my chin on his shoulder as a grin spreads on my face. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Nothing," I murmur.

He raises an eyebrow at me and turns back to the baby in front of him, my hand resting on his thigh. I feel his lips press to the top of my head and shuffle closer to him. Anne sits in the chair across and to the left of the table, smiling at the three of us.

"You look like a cute little family," she says, leaning her chin on her hand. My face flushes and Harry chuckles beside me. "What day are you guys leaving?"

"Our flight is on Saturday," Harry tells her. "I think it's at eleven."

"In the morning?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, okay."

She picks at her nails and even I can see there's something else on her mind. I look up at Harry and I can tell by the look on his face that he's thinking the same thing.

"What is it?" he asks her.

"It's nothing," she says, waving her hand.

"Mum," he insists. She sighs and looks at me then back to him. "It's fine, she knows everything."

Everything? Does that mean....so she wants to talk about his father I guess. I can feel Harry's muscles tense as he waits for her to come out with it.

"The lawyers called," she begins. "They really want you to testify against your father."

"I already told you, I'm not going to do that," he says irritably. I squeeze his leg gently and he takes a deep breath. "I gave the police my statement when they arrested him. I don't even see why it's necessary."

"They need more details, they want to ask you questions that go back to when everything started," she explains.

"Why the hell would I want to do that? I lived through it already, I have no interest in rehashing everything that happened."

"It'll help the case, you're the only other person that can give the kind of testimony they're looking for." He shakes his head and pays attention to Jackson. "Harry, I know it's hard, but-"

"No you don't," he snaps.

I look at his face, anger plainly written in his eyes and the lines of his mouth. Brad comes around the couch and grabs Jackson, saying he should change his diaper. It was probably just because he can sense the situation and doesn't want his child in Harry's hands while he's angry. Harry sits forward, resting his elbows on his knees. The hand I place on his back seems to calm him a bit, but I don't think there's a lot I can do at this point.

"Harry," Anne says quietly. "We want him to go to jail. That's what he deserves."

"For the drugs or for smacking me around?" he spits.

"I understand that you don't want to talk about everything that happened, but your testimony is going to help get him put away for a long time."

"You don't understand," Harry says. He stands and points at her. "You're the reason I was there. I wanted to leave, Gemma wanted to leave but you just had to stay. I'll never understand why you kept us there! Even after your own daughter took off you still didn't leave. After he put us both in the hospital you still wouldn't listen. He hit me every day, mum."

"I know," she whispers. She stands and walks around the coffee table to where he is. "I know what I did was wrong. I didn't protect you, but I didn't know how!"

"That's bull shit!" he yells. "When your husband is throwing your son into walls and giving him black eyes after he starts selling and snorting cocaine, you don't know what the obvious solution to that problem is? Because you any normal person it would be to get the fuck out of that house."

"Harry," Gemma scolds as she comes down the steps. "Go easy."

"I couldn't leave," Anne says quietly, tears brimming her eyes. "I had nothing. You could have left with Gemma if you wanted to."

"No I couldn't," he says, scoffing. "If I had left you would have been the one he was hitting and I couldn't let that happen."

"What?" she whispers.

"That's right, mum. I stayed because I was trying to protect you. You were the parent and I was just a kid, but I was the one protecting you. I've had to give up a lot for you mum, and I would give my life for you. Fuck, I almost did. But I am not doing this," he says darkly. Anne opens her mouth to say something else, but Harry storms out of the house before anyone can.

When he slams the door shut no one moves or says anything, and suddenly my presence here seems inappropriate. I would go after Harry to get out of here, but I have a feeling he needs to be alone right now.

"He's just upset," Gemma says, putting her hand on her mother's arm. "He didn't mean that."

"He's right," she says sadly. "I should have gotten you guys out of there. I'm the reason it got so bad. I'm the reason he moved so far away."

Gemma looks at her with a sympathetic smile, but she doesn't say anything because what Anne said is true. Harry did leave because of everything that happened here, although I don't think he's as angry at her as he seemed there. He's probably just frustrated because he really doesn't want to have to relive everything he went through.

"I'm going to go find him," I say quietly, excusing myself from the room.

I tug my jacket over my shoulders and take one of Harry's too when I see that it's raining. He didn't take one with and he's probably freezing. When I get outside the realization hits me that I have no idea where to go. Harry didn't even live here for long and he never told me about any place that he'd go to around here.

When I get to the end of the driveway I turn right, heading further into the quaint neighbourhood to search for him. The houses are pretty spaced out and they sit at the edge of a hilly forest area. After about ten minutes I haven't seen him, but something does catch my eye. When I look to my right there's a grassy opening lined with shrubs and trees at the back of it. There's nothing out of the ordinary, but a footprint in the mud catches my eye.

There's probably no way he's here, but I take the chance anyway and walk to the tall bushes. I push a few branches to the side to try and find an opening, finding a relatively large one a little further to the right. When I step through my hair gets tangled in a few branches and when I get into a clear patch I'm still pulling leaves out of it.

I stop in my tracks when I see Harry sitting on a large rock on a hill that's hidden from the road by houses and trees. It overlooks some other houses along with a park and a small pond. Harry's legs dangle off the edge of the rock and when I step up behind him and put my hands on his shoulders he jumps.

"Sorry," I mumble, leaning down to kiss the top of his head. He doesn't say anything so I sit down next to him, my legs dangling and my jeans wet from the rain. I set the jacket over his shoulders and he sighs, pushing his arms into the sleeves.

"Thanks," he says softly. He kisses my cheek and sets his hand on my leg, staring out at the view.

"This is nice." My voice is quiet but it seems to disturb the peaceful atmosphere that hangs over us.

"I found it when I was living with Gemma," he tells me. "I used to come up here all the time."

"It's beautiful."

He nods and I wrap my arms around his large one, leaning my head against his shoulder. If he needs me he'll tell me, and right now I think this is all he needs me for. There doesn't seem to be a way for me to understand this situation since I've never experienced anything close to what he did, and I can't even try to. I hadn't even realized how much this still bothered him, but it was a long time and it was pretty recent. I should have realized that he would be this angry.

"I'm sorry," I say quietly after a while.

"Why?"

"I didn't realize you were so...upset still."

"Savannah, that's not your problem. I don't talk about it a lot. Plus when I'm with you I forget about all of that."

I lift my head and look up at him, surprised by the small smile gracing his pale pink lips. He presses them to my forehead and sighs deeply.

"You know you can talk to me though, right?" I ask. He nods.

"Is she upset?"

"She feels bad," I admit. He looks out at the scene in front of us and I run my hand up and down his arm. "It's understandable that you're angry, Harry. You have every right to be and if you don't want to testify you shouldn't have to."

"I can't go through it all again," he whispers. His eyes fall closed and he hangs his head a little. "I can't do it."

"I know, it's okay," I soothe, putting my hand against his cheek.

"I'm really glad you're here." He turns to look at me, an arm wrapping around my waist. "I don't know what I'd do without you."

"I guess I should stick around then," I say, sighing like it's a chore for me. He laughs a little and leans down towards me.

"If you want to," he says, his breath fanning my lips.

I tilt my lips up towards his and kiss him, my arms winding around his waist. I could never even contemplate leaving him, not willingly. The only way he's getting rid of me is if he does it himself. But I have a feeling whatever it is we have here isn't going anywhere.

Notes

so i dont really know how i feel about this chapter....so i hope you guys like it :s i wanted to have another chapter of them just being with his family, but i think the next one will be where they go home. itll be a whole chapter about their last day or whatever but yeah theyll be going back.

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