"Why would I stay in New York if you weren't there?" Des says simply. "I needed your help and you left."

"I gave you a place to live, how was that not helpful?"

"I need to get these guys off my back. I can find my own place to stay but I need money."

"We're not giving you anything, you shouldn't be here," Harry spits. "How did you even find us?"

"I still have connections, son."

"You're disgusting." Harry shakes his head and Des looks through the house, his eyes eventually landing on me. "You realize it's two in the morning, right? My kids are sleeping upstairs."

"Would you rather me go to your mother's house?"

"You son of a bitch," Harry growls, grabbing him by the collar of his shirt. Des had grown somewhat pleasant while he was staying with us, but that person is gone now. I'm not sure he ever existed. "You don't get to talk about her. If you go anywhere near her I'll kill you myself."

"You're telling me you can't spare twenty grand?" Des says lowly. "Look at this house. You're swimming in money and you're too greedy to help your own father."

"You piece of shit." Harry shoves him onto the porch and I quickly go back upstairs to put Miloh down. When I get to the front door they're on the front lawn and Des has blood coming from above his eyebrow.

"Harry, please come back inside," I ask, stepping onto the porch. He glares at Des and I see how hard he's trying to keep himself under control. "He's on parole, let's just call the cops."

"What do you want from me? You already took enough from me, why can't you just leave me the hell alone?" Harry asks.

"I told you what I want."

"I'm not giving you money. The last time I made a deal with you didn't go so well if you don't remember."

"I'll disappear. I'll leave, move across the country and you'll never see me again."

"Harry, please come inside," I ask again. He turns to look at me and I can tell that he's mulling over the offer, wondering if he should take the bait. "Don't make this decision right now."

"I'll find out where your mother lives," Des says. Harry's glare returns to his father and his fists ball up at his sides. "Maybe I'll pay her a visit too. It's been a while."

That does it. Something snaps inside him and Harry lunges at his father. He was right when he threatened him months ago; Harry isn't some scrawny little kid anymore that'll let someone push him around. Des doesn't stand a chance when it comes to Harry now and I can see by the look on his face that he sees that. Harry only gets one good blow in before I'm pulling him away.

"Harry, you can't do this," I tell him desperately. "He's not worth it, please. Let's go back inside."

"Stay the hell away," Harry says to his father, pointing angrily. "From all of us."

If there's a response to that we don't hear it, because I'm practically running inside with Harry's hand in mine. When the door is shut and locked immediately he gets our phone in his hand, his mother's number at his fingertips.

"I know what time it is, I'm sorry. But I need you to go to Gemma's house," Harry says, walking to the window and pulling back the curtain so he can check outside. "Yeah, I know, but please just do this for me, Mum."

His murmuring continues while I go upstairs to check on Sophie and Miloh. The baby is crying from my rushed exit but Sophie is still sound asleep. While I'm trying to get Miloh to calm down Harry comes back upstairs, stopping in the doorway of the nursery.

"Bring him to our room," Harry says after a few minutes. "I'll get Sophie."

"Why?"

"Why? Because my psyho father is out there and I want to be able to protect my family."

"Don't snap at me, Harry, this isn't my fault."

He sighs and rubs his face with both hands, his right knuckles cut open. "I know. I'm sorry."

He backs out of the room before I can say anything else, so I do as requested and bring Miloh to our bedroom for the night. Harry follows shortly after with Sophie in his arms. We have a playpen in our room from when we were still unpacking, and now it's definitely useful. Harry is already in our bathroom, so I quietly close the door behind me so our kids aren't disturbed anymore.

It's hard to believe that someone can be so strong one minute and seem so weak the next. The tap is running, but he's not doing anything, his palms pressed to the countertop on either side of the sink. He doesn't react in any way when I place my hand on his back.

"Talk to me," I whisper.

"I'm so sick of this." He takes a shaky breath. "I'm so tired of being scared all the time."

"Why are you scared?"

"I'm scared that I'm going to lose you," he says, finally showing me his beautiful green eyes.

"What? Honey, that's not going to happen," I assure him.

"I wouldn't blame you for leaving me. I've put you and our family in danger too many times."

"Stop." I make him face me and place my hands on either side of his face. "No one's leaving. Harry, I don't love you because you can protect us. And I know that you can. You need to stop blaming yourself for everything that happens to us, okay? We're in this together. Whatever we have to do to make your father leave us alone, we'll do it. We're going to figure this out together."

"Why do you put up with this?" he asks quietly, his eyes searching my face.

"Because I love you, you idiot."

"I'm sorry." He hides his face in my air when I wrap my arms around him.

"Don't, this isn't your fault."

"But-"

"Stop," I whisper, kissing his cheek. "We're okay. Everything's going to be fine."

I know that small reassurance won't ease his mind, but for now it calms him a little. While I clean his busted knuckles his eyes tell me everything I need to know. His mind is reeling, wondering how he's going to stop his father from coming around, how he's going to protect his mother and sister and her family while protecting his own. He's taking all of this on himself and I hate that; that's the reason he left here in the first place all those years ago.

Even with what I'd hoped was a comforting conversation I know my fiance well enough to know that he won't be sleeping much tonight, if at all. Neither of us sleep very well with Sophie squirming and kicking us all night anyway.

The next morning when I wake up Harry is sitting against the headboard, Sophie still sleeping between us. Harry has Miloh in his arms and it doesn't look like he slept at all. I never expected him to, but he can't stay awake every night waiting for something to happen.

Sophie stirs and sits up suddenly, looking around with her curly hair matted at the back of her head. She seems a little confused by her surroundings, but she looks at Harry and I a few times and seems satisfied enough. Harry tugs her towards him and she curls up against his side, fiddling with Miloh's onsie-covered feet.

"You're awake," Harry says, looking over at me.

He smiles at me and looks back at Soph, pushing her hair back. It always seems to be in her face lately; with time her hair has only gotten more and more curly and it's more than I know what to do with since I've had straight hair all my life. She had the same until last summer when it randomly started sprouting curls. It's adorable, though, and it makes her look even more like Harry.

"Do you mind if I shower?"

He shakes his head. "Go ahead."

I used the time under the water to try and get a clear head. The most important thing here is that my family stays safe and Harry gets the peace of mind he deserves. His father has always been a wild card, but we knew that. Now we have to find a way to deal with it. He was right when he said that twenty thousand wouldn't be a huge loss for us; the money from the company and my trust fund made it possible for Harry and I to never have to work again, but that doesn't mean he deserves to have it. Plus, Harry was right when he said that it wouldn't work. It would only keep him coming back for more. We don't even know if he's telling the truth. He may not even need the money for anything, he may just be trying to scam us for twenty grand.

"Babe?"

"Yeah," I called, shutting off the water. When I turned to reach for my towel Harry was right in front of me, still clothed but reaching for the nozzle anyway. The water fell over my shoulders and splashed against his t-shirt, soaking through the thin material. "What are you doing?"

"I just need a minute," he said, pulling his shirt over his head.

"For what?"

"With you." He puts his arms around me and steps forward, placing both of our heads under the stream. His forehead rests against mine, my hands on his arms with my thumbs rubbing slow circles on his skin. "I love you."

"I know. Breathe, baby. We're going to work this out."

He shakes his head. "I don't want to talk about that right now."

"Okay."

So I didn't talk about it. We stood there under the water together until it started getting cold, then Harry shut it off again. Neither of us said a word the entire time, but as I wrap my robe around myself I notice Harry still seems on edge. I am too, and I'm not sure how to help either of us at this point. We need to talk about how to handle this and I have a feeling there's one more person that should be involved in that conversation.

"Hi, baby," I coo, leaning into the playpen to pick up Miloh. He's already awake with his arms flailing around, a wide toothless smile on his adorable little face when I pick him up. Harry comes out of the bathroom then, a towel around his waist as he kisses Miloh's cheek and mine.

"Mummy?" Sophie sits up on the bed and rubs at her eyes. "You come sleep?"

"No, it's morning, Princess." Harry disappears into the closet to get some clothes and I sit on the edge of the bed next to her and she takes Miloh's reaching hand. "Do you want to go to Auntie Gemma's for breakfast?"

"Okay, see you soon." Harry walks out and hangs up his phone. "Looks like they're coming here."

"We don't have enough groceries."

"They're bringing some food," he says, lifting Miles out of my arms. The baby laughs at his silly face and Harry holds his against his side. "They'll be here in five minutes."

"I'll get dressed, then. Soph, you want to stay in your jammies?"

"Yeah!" she says happily.

"Okay, go with Daddy, then." I help her off the bed and she runs out of the room in front of Harry. I don't even want to know what Anne is going to say when we tell her what's been going on. I'm sure all of them are going to be equally upset, but Anne will probably be terrified. If it wasn't for us she wouldn't have to deal with this at all, and the guilt I already feel is only going to be multiplied when we talk to her.

Harry's family- our family- was already inside when I got downstairs. Gemma and Anne both look worried already; Harry asked Anne to go to Gem's house early this morning and they know that means there was something wrong. Sophie and Jackson are playing almost instantly on the living room floor.

"Okay, time to explain," Gemma says, releasing me from her hug. Anne hugs me as well and everyone goes into the kitchen, everyone sitting at the island's breakfast bar but Harry and I. He places his hand on my back while Brad hands out the breakfast. "You didn't send Mum to our house at two in the morning for no reason."

"Okay." Harry sighs and looks at me for a moment, seemingly building the courage to say the words. "Dad's back."

"What?" Anne drops the coffee she had in her hand and quickly scrambles to collect it. "Sorry."

"What the hell are you talking about, Harry?" Gemma asks. I clean up the mess and stop Anne from apologizing anymore. There are tears in her eyes and she looks shocked. Rightfully so.

"He came to see us in New York," Harry explains. "The first time was right after he got out of prison. Then he came back a few months ago, the day we got back from our trip. He umm...he stayed with us for a while."

"What?" Gemma yells. "You let him into your house?"

"Don't," Anne says to her. "Don't yell at him."

"He said he needed help," Harry continues, leaning both palms against the counter. "He needed money to pay back some debts from before he went to prison. He had no where to go, so yeah. He stayed with us for a while. Then he stayed at our other place when Savannah...for the last two months of her pregnancy. We didn't say a whole lot before he left, but he..."

Harry stops and they all wait for the rest. Harry doesn't seem to be able to say it but his family looks desperate for the end of the explanation. When he turns away from everyone they all look at me.

"He followed us here," I tell them. All three of them show completely different reactions to that fact and Anne covers her face completely. "He's asking us to help him."

"Did he threaten anyone?" Brad asks.

"No," I lie. Anne doesn't need to know he was threatening to go to her. "He asked us for money."

"You can't give him anything." Anne surprises us all with the calm tone of her voice. Harry turns back around and she smiles at him. "I know you think it'll send him away, but you'll become his source of income until the day that he dies."

"Mum, how else are we going to get rid of him?"

"I don't know, but not this way."

"The point is we need to find a way to fix this," Gemma says. "We all know this is only going to get worse if we don't find a way to get him out of our lives for good. This time it has to be for good."

Notes

this took a long time :( sowy.