"Dad?"

"Who is...Savannah?" I hear him telling people to leave the room. "Savannah, is that you?"

"Yeah. Yeah, it's me."

"I was not expecting this." He laughs in disbelief and I sit on the edge of the bed. "How are you? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine. I umm...I was just thinking about how long it's been since we talked."

"Mason told me about the vacation. He told me you're getting married."

"Yeah, I am."

"Congratulations, sweetheart."

Weird. For a moment I'm not sure what to say because that's the last thing I was expecting. My father has been quite expressive about his disapproval of my relationship with Harry. That's part of the reason Harry and I are still living out here.

"Savannah, are you still there?"

"Yeah, sorry. I'm here. I'm just surprised, that's all," I admit. "I didn't think you'd be happy."

"I know I was hard on you, but that was years ago. You were a child, my child. I just wanted to protect you. I assumed someone in a position of power was taking advantage of my little girl and I wasn't about to let that happen."

"I know, Dad. I understand how it looked back then, but it was never anything like that."

"I know that now. I said some pretty horrible things to you..." He sighs. "I wish I could take all of that back."

"I've watched Harry struggle with his relationship with his father for the last few days. They can hardly be in the same room together and they've barely spoken in years. Dad, I don't want to be like that with you."

"I'm glad you feel that way. It's been a long time since you've been back to California."

"Harry and I actually talked about making the trip down there for Christmas."

"Marilyn and I are throwing them a surprise engagement party on the nineteenth," he says. "I'm sure they'd love it if you were there. If you wanna take the company jet that'd be fine."

"I can't exactly fly right now. I don't know if you knew this but I'm...Harry and I are having another baby and my due date is in about nine weeks. I can't fly." Harry slowly pushes the door open and I smile at him.

"You are?" He laughs and I can imagine him shaking his head. "That's incredible, Savannah. All the more reason for me to want to see you."

"If we come we'll have to drive down, so I'll have to talk to Harry about it."

"Well, you know how to reach me if you figure it out."

"Okay. Bye, Dad."

"Dad?" Harry asks as I hand up the phone. "You called your father?"

"Yeah." Harry leans against the dresser across from me, arms folded over his chest. "It's been too long."

"He's an ass."

"Harry." He sighs and looks away from me. "I know you're a little anti-Dad right now, but just because your relationship with your father sucks doesn't mean mine has to."

His eyes flash back to mine and the anger is instantly evident. That definitely crossed a line. There are certain things that you just shouldn't say, especially to Harry. This is definitely a lot more complicated than my relationship with my father and I know that.

"Harry," I call as he storms out. He slams the door shut and I push my fingers through my hair. That was so stupid.

When I walk back into the living room Harry is watching a movie with Sophie beside him and Des in the other chair. He doesn't even look up when I walk in and he's got that angry thing where he's acting way too calm. That scares me a little because I know this fight is going to be bad when it does happen. As I sit down on the other side of Sophie he still doesn't move.

"Harry-"

"Don't," he says lowly. "Just don't."

"Harry, I'm sorry," I whisper. "I didn't mean that."

"Yes." He stands and walks towards the kitchen. "You did."

My eyes fall closed as the door swings shut. Sophie leans her head against my arm, her thumb stuck in her mouth like it always is. Sometimes I wish I was that little again. There aren't a lot of things in my life I would do differently if I could go back, but things are so much simpler when your biggest problem is not having the right dress for your barbie.

"I'll be right back," I tell her, moving her to lean on a pillow instead. Her eyes are glazed over so I don't think she really cares at this point.

When I walk into the kitchen Harry is standing by the window with his arms folded over his chest. If he hears my entrance he doesn't acknowledge it, not even when I'm standing right next to him. He does, however, flinch away from me when I place my hand on his arm.

"I'm sorry," I tell him again. "I didn't mean for that to come out."

"You think me not liking your father is about how shitty mine is?" he spits angrily. "It's not, Savannah. I don't want you to have to go through the same thing as me. I love you, why would I want that?"

"I know, Harry."

"He's said some horrible things. To you, about you, about me, about our relationship, our family. How can you forget about all of that?"

"I'm not forgetting, Harry. I know what he did but I don't understand why it's so horrible for me to want a relationship with my Dad."

"This is your family now," he says, pointing to the ground. "Right here, with us. Your dickhead of a father is not worth it."

"I fixed my relationship with my mother, why does this have to be different? She was just as horrible to me and you don't have a problem with her!"

"Because she made the effort! You didn't go to her, she came here telling you she was sorry and that she wanted to fix things. You called your father because you don't want to have to go through what I'm going through. Right?"

"It's not that simple," I mutter.

"He's not a good person." He sighs and crosses his arms again. "I don't want him near our family."

"You don't even know him, Harry. He was worried about me, that's why he acted the way he did."

"In the process he hurt all of us to the point where he doesn't even know his own granddaughter. And that was your decision, not mine."

"That was a decision we made together," I remind him. "I wanted to go there and fix things after I had Sophie but you said it wasn't a good idea. You manipulated me into staying here."

"Manipulated you?" He scoffs. "You really think that low of me?"

"That's not what I meant."

"Look, if you really want to do this I'm not going to stop you, but you realize the only reason I'm against it is because I don't want you to get hurt again. That's all he's ever done and I'm the one that's supposed to protect you." He sighs and shakes his head. "I can't watch you get hurt again."

"Harry, I can take care of myself."

"I know." He pulls me against him and I close my eyes as he runs his hand over my back. "But it's my job now."

"Sorry." We both turn to see Des standing awkwardly in the doorway. "Sophie says she doesn't feel well."

Harry immediately bolts to the door and I waddle behind him. I manage to catch him carrying Sophie to the bathroom and by the time I get there Sophie's little body is huddled over the toilet while she throws up. And then I'm bolting for my bathroom so I can do the same. Pregnancy stomach equals queasy stomach.

When I've brushed my teeth I head back out to where Harry and Sophie are. He's sat on the bathroom floor with Sophie huddled against his chest and his arms wrapped around her. Tears are streaming from her eyes with her sobs and Harry quietly tries to comfort her.

"Soph, are you okay?" I ask. She shakes her head and pulls her knees against her chest. "Do you feel like throwing up again?"

"I don't know," she whimpers. Harry kisses her forehead and I walk back to the kitchen to get a bowl for beside her bed. Des perks up when I walk in and the worry in his eyes wasn't something I was anticipating.

"Is she okay?"

"She's sick," I tell him. "Probably going to be a rough night."

"If there's anything I can do..."

"I'll let you know." I smile at him and get a bowl from the cupboard. "Thanks."

---

"Harry," I whisper, hitting his arm. "Harry, she's throwing up again."

"Damn baby," he says, swinging the blankets away. "You're the one with the strong stomach."

I can't help but smile as he walks out of the room. It's almost four am now and Sophie's been sick all night. This is the first time it's been really bad and it actually pains me that I can't be the one comforting her right now. But it's not good for anyone if we're both vomiting all night. After the toilet's been flushed and the lights are off Harry comes back into the room.

"She's one tiny person." He falls back against the pillows and turns onto his stomach, tucking his hands under his pillow. "How can there be so much stuff in there?"

"Maybe we should take her to the hospital."

"I don't think that's necessary."

"What if it's more than a bug?"

"Babe, she'll be fine tomorrow. She just needs to sleep."

"She can't do that if she's puking for hours on end."

"If she doesn't feel better in the next few hours then we'll take her in," he bargains. He rolls one his side and laces our fingers together, the largest amount of cuddling I can manage with this ridiculous watermelon I'm carrying around. "Okay?"

"Alright."

Harry manages to fall asleep in thirty seconds, but my mind is racing for some reason. And plus, someone has to listen for Sophie. And also, my stomach hurts. But not in a weird, nauseated way. In an uncomfortable sort of painful way. It's weird. Not a good weird.

"Harry." I shake him awake again and he groans. "Harry-"

"Yeah, I know." He starts to get up but I grip his bicep to keep him here. "I know, baby, I'm going."

"No, not Sophie." With my hands planted on either side of me I pull myself up to sit back against the headboard. "I think-ow!"

"What?" Harry kneels next to me with a panicked look on his face. "What's wrong?"

"Something's wrong," I whimper. "It hurts, it's not supposed to hurt."

"Hurts like what?"

"I don't know, but something isn't right, Harry."

"Okay. Okay, we need to go to the hospital." He gets up and changes faster than I've ever seen. "Do you need clothes?"

"Pants would be good, yeah."

He helps me slide on some sweatpants and then gently pulls me into a sitting position. Another wave of pain comes and I have to take a minute before I can get up the rest of the way. He sits me on the couch and then walks over to the guest room.

"I need you to take care of Sophie."

"What?" Des says. He's just as surprised as I am, and he looks at me for reassurance, then back at Harry. "Me?"

"It's not exactly my first option, trust me, but something is wrong with Savannah and I need to take her to the hospital. Sophie is still sick so can you take care of her?"

"I...yeah, I can do that."

"Okay." Harry pushes his fingers through his hair, making it obvious to me that he's uncomfortable with this. "Stay awake and if she throws up, help her. I'll call you to check up but if she's feeling okay in the morning try to get her to drink some water at least."

"Okay."

"Harry," I whimper when it starts again. "Harry, we need to go."

He runs over to me and tries to help me up, but at this point the pain is shoot up and down my back and it's hard for me to stand. He finally decides to pick me up instead, and I've never been so grateful in my life for him working at a gym. I've never been in this kind of pain and it terrifies me. Not because it hurts, but because I have a tiny human in me that I am responsible for. If something happened...

Harry and I have ben through a lot together. More than a lot, actually. But if we lost this baby, I have no idea what we would do.

Notes

:o