Hold On For Dear Love (Sequel to WILD)

~Six Months Later~

Emily's POV

“Hey, Harry?” I called from the kitchen.

“Yeah, babe?” he called back from upstairs where he was getting dressed.

“Can you help me out here. I don’t think I’m doing this right”

I stared hopelessly down at the birthday cake that we made for Lux’s second birthday. I had just pulled it out of the oven and finished frosting it. The only thing left was to add on the white icing border and the words, but I couldn’t figure out how to get the stupid stuff to come out of the bag for the life of me.

Harry walked in carrying his shirt and chuckled when he saw me glaring at the bag. He tossed the shirt onto the counter and silently grabbed a pair of scissors from the drawer, then walked over to me and took the bag out of my hand. I watched as he cut the tip off it, immediately recognizing my mistake.

“Oh shut up” I muttered, causing him to laugh.

“It’s okay. I did the same thing when I first started”

“You don’t have to lie to make me feel better. I know damn well that you didn’t do something that stupid”

“You’re right I didn’t”

I gasped and smacked his arm. He laughed and rubbed his sore skin. I took the bag from him and started with the white border, but it wasn’t turning out very well so Harry stepped in. He shifted so he stood behind me then wrapped his arms around my waist, placing his hands over mine as he guided me through it. After we finished with that we switched to purple icing for the lettering. After writing ‘Happy Birthday Lux’ on the cake we stood back and admired our handy work.

“We did pretty good” I commented.

“It’s perfect” Harry agreed.

I turned back to smile at him and he leaned forwards, pressing his lips to mine. I melted into his arms, feeling butterflies in my stomach just like every other time we kissed. Every kiss felt like our first to me. It was like I was back in the hotel lobby, kissing a boy I had just met but fell for within a few hours.

My happy memories were interrupted when I felt the cool sensation of icing being spread across my cheek. I pulled back, wiping a bit off with my finger so I could look at it. Harry just grinned as I looked up at him with a ‘really?’ look.

“Oh, you think this is funny, huh?” I asked him.

“Yeah. I think it’s very funny”

I stared at him for a moment then suddenly grabbed the bag that he held in his hand and squeezed it so it sprayed out all over his face. By the time I finished his eyes were completely covered with the purple icing. He reached up and wiped it away from his eyes then smiled down at me. Before I could get away he grabbed my arms and started kissing me all over my face, covering it with icing. I let out a squeal and tried to stop him, but I was laughing so hard that I had no strength to push him away. He finally stopped and pulled back to admire his work, letting out a laugh at the look on my face.

“Now look what you did” I said with a pout. “Now I gotta get cleaned up”

“You started it” he replied with a laugh. “Let’s take a picture. I want to remember this”

He took out his phone then pulled me to his side and proceeded to lick the side of my face. I let out a half laughing/half disgusted sound and he snapped the picture. When he flipped it around we both laughed at it. My face was all scrunched up in a weird way because I was laughing, yet grossed out by the fact that Harry was licking my cheek. Overall it was a really cute picture.

“This is so going on Twitter” he said with a smile.

I looked over his shoulder as he uploaded the picture then added ‘Finished frosting Lux’s birthday cake with @EmmyB13 Yummy ;)’ underneath before posting it. Within minutes it was sent around the fandom and people were commenting on how cute it was or saying weird things that made us laugh. It felt good to mess around again without worrying. It felt...normal.

“Well, we better get cleaned up. Lou wants us there in fifteen minutes” I said as I started walking to the bathroom.

I didn’t get far, however, because Harry pulled me back and pinned me against the fridge with that sexy lopsided smirk of his. He leaned in and trailed his lips along my neck, leaving soft kisses up to my jaw line. I bit my lip to hold back the moan that threatened to escape them.

“You know...I can think of another use for this icing” he whispered huskily into my ear.

Somehow, I managed to fight the sensation that began to form in the pit of my stomach and pushed him back a little.

“Down boy. We have a birthday party to get to” I said as I slipped out of his arms and started the walk to the bathroom. “but maybe we can come back to it after the party”
He grinned at me as I walked away then went to the sink to wash off his face for Lux’s party. Something told me that tonight would be very interesting.

~.:o:.~

“Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday to you. Happy birthday dear, Luxy. Happy Birthday to you!”

We all cheered as Lou and Tom helped Lux blow out her candles. And by all of us I mean her family along with us, the boys, along with her friends as well as some of Tom and Lou’s friends who are around the little girl a lot. She looked so adorable in her little pink dress and single ponytail on her head. Who am I kidding? This kid looks adorable all the time.
After the candles were blown out Lou began to cut the cake. I stepped in to help her dish up plates and make sure that everyone who wanted a piece got one. When we were finished I took my own plate of cake and ice cream and walked over to Harry who was sitting on the couch with the boys while everyone else stayed in the dining area with the kids. I noticed he didn’t have any and paused.

“Do you want me to get you a plate?” I asked him.

“Nope. That’s what yours is for” he replied with a grin as he patted his legs for me to sit on them.

I rolled my eyes, but sat down anyway. His arms wrapped around my waist and he kissed my cheek. I smiled and scooped up a bit of cake and ice cream on the fork then held it out to him. He opened his mouth and let me feed it to him.

“Mmm. We made a damn good cake” he commented.

“You did. This is really good guys” Louis said from across the room.

“Thanks, BooBear” I said with a smile.

I took a bite myself and finally realized how right they were. It just melted in my mouth and the frosting was perfect. I didn’t notice how much I was enjoying it until I heard the boys laughing.

“See! I told you she sounds erotic when she tastes good food!” Harry laughed.

“Harry!” I smacked his arm and my face turned red. He just laughed harder along with the rest of the boys. Lou apparently overheard and was laughing from the doorway as well.

“Please tell me no one else heard that” I begged her.

“No, only me.....and Tom....but that’s it” she said.

“It’s okay, love. We still love you” Harry said.

“You’re an ass” I replied hotly, feeling a bit angry at him for teasing me.

“Oh, come on, babe. I was just teasing. I wuv u, Emily”

He gave me the puppy dog eyes and puffed his bottom lip out, but I ignored him and got up from his lap. I moved over to Niall’s lap.

“No more cake for you” I declared.

“Emily” He whined childishly.

“Nope. You’re in trouble. Go to timeout”

I was joking about the time out part of course, but Harry....being Harry....decided to take it literally and made me crack up laughing as he stood up and sat himself in the corner facing the wall.

“I was kidding” I said between laughter.

“Am I not in trouble anymore?” he asked hopefully.

I nodded and he jumped up from the floor, making his way over to me with a smile on his face.

“I believe this belongs to me” he said to Niall.

At first I thought he was talking about the cake, but then he proceeded to lift me up out of Niall’s lap and carry me back over to the other couch to sit me down in his spot. He then plopped down on the floor in front of me with his back against the couch. The boys chuckled and I just smiled and shook my head, reaching out to play with his curls.

Harry's POV

I’m not jealous and I definitely have no problem with Emily hanging out with the boys, but after all that has happened I feel the need to be with her at all times. I have a fear that I only have a short amount of time with her left and I’ve become determined to spend every moment with her, trying to pack in as much as I can before something else happens. I find myself becoming more aware of my surroundings and rarely trusting strangers anymore. Every time someone new comes up to us because they recognize us and want to say hi or to get a picture/autograph my heart starts pounding and I’m constantly on edge until they leave. Sometimes I wish everything was just back to normal. To the days when we first met and were on tour. When life was much less complicated than it is now.

I let out a deep sigh and laid my head on top of Emily’s leg. She must have noticed my mood change because moments later I felt her hands move to my shoulders, gently massaging the tension out of them. I closed my eyes and relaxed under her gentle touch. After a few moments she moved forwards and wrapped her arms around me.

“Quit worrying about everything. you’re stressing yourself out” she told me quietly so only I could hear.

“I can’t help it. I just...I don’t want anything else to happen to you or anyone I care about”

She went silent for a while, lost in her thoughts. She was thinking it, too. I wish we could just get away from all of this... Suddenly an idea popped in my head and I smiled up at her.

“What if you and I just went away for a couple weeks? Just the two of us.” I asked her.

“And go where?” she asked me with a smile on her face.

“Anywhere you want, love.”

“Hmm...Anywhere I want, huh? Well, it would have to be someplace warm.... Private.... oh, and it definitely has to be near a beach.” A wide grin formed on my face. A friend of mine owned a private island in the Virgin Islands and I’m sure he’d let us use it for a couple weeks.

“I know the perfect place. I’ll make a few calls tomorrow and set things up”

“Don’t you guys have to do some studio work soon?” she questioned.

“It can wait for a while. I’m sure Simon will understand that this is more important and both of us could use a vacation”

“You can say that again” she muttered.

I chuckled and kissed her cheek. She smiled, then turned her head so she could press her lips to mine. My hand made its way up into her hair, pulling her closer to deepen the kiss.

“Ahem”

We parted and looked up to see the boys staring at us.

“Come on you two. This is a child’s birthday party. Have a little control” Louis said with a stern voice, but the smirk on his face showed that he was just teasing.

“Sorry” Emily muttered, her face turning red for the second time in the past hour.

I just smiled and intertwined my fingers with her hand that was resting on my shoulder. I couldn’t wait to be alone with her for two weeks...no fans...no paparazzi...just us.

Emily's POV

Lou and I picked up dishes and such while the boys entertained the kids by singing funny children songs to them. I laughed as they sang Old McDonald Had a Farm while making really obnoxious animal sounds that made the kids (and adults) burst into giggles.

“They’re really great with kids, aren’t they?” Lou commented.

“Yeah, they are” I agreed.

“So, how have you been?”

“I’ve been great actually. I feel like things are finally starting to calm down”

“So you haven’t heard anything else from those people?” she asked cautiously.

“Nope”

“Aren’t you worried that something else will happen?” I thought the question over for a long time before giving her an answer.

“No. I’m tired of worrying and being cautious of everything. I’m not letting whoever this is control my life anymore. I don’t want to be afraid of getting hurt or killed every time I step outside. That’s no way to live. If today is my last day then I’m going to spend it the way I want to.” Lou smiled at me.

“You go girl”

We both laughed.

“Come on, let’s go back so your baby can open up her presents”

~.:o:.~

Harry's POV - 3 Days Later

I jogged up the stairs and walked into the bedroom to find Emily trying to shut her last suitcase. She resorted to jumping up and sitting on top of it in attempts to get it to zip up, but it failed. I laughed and she huffed.

“Harry, this stupid suitcase won’t close” she whined, crossing her arm over her chest.

“Well it would close just fine if you didn’t pack it full of clothes” I commented as I walked over to her.

“I need everything that is in this bag, Harry” she argued.

“Whatever you say, babe” I replied with a chuckle.

Women and their clothes. A dangerous combination on many levels. First and foremost being an over packed suitcase. With her still sitting on top of it, I managed to get it fully zipped up. Emily hopped off so I could take it downstairs, and the second I lifted it up I nearly got knocked out of balance.

“Did you pack the whole damn closet in here or what? This sucker is heavy”

“No. Just the stuff I need. Do you want me to help you carry it down?”

“No, no. I got it”

Not wanting to crack my manly ego, I carried the heavy suitcase out to the car. By the time I was done and got to stand up straight my back was killing me. I winced as it cracked when I turned to each side, but afterwards it felt much better. I shut the door then turned back to help Emily make sure everything was shut off and locked up in the house. When that was done we finally pulled out of the driveway and headed to the airport where the boys were waiting to see us off.

“You two have fun” Liam said as he hugged me goodbye.

“And don’t get into any trouble. You two seem to attract it like a bright light does to moths”

“The whole point of this trip is to get away from trouble. If anything happens then I will be severely pissed and might just kill someone” I said.

Liam chuckled and ruffled my hair.

“Well, let’s hope that doesn’t happen”

I nodded and turned to see Emily giving Niall a bear hug. She laughed and gave him a kiss on the cheek before moving onto Zayn and lastly, Louis. He whispered something to her that made her face turn red. She smacked him and he just laughed at her. I raised my eyebrows at him, but he just shrugged acting as if he didn’t do anything. I walked over to him and gave him a quick hug.

“What did you say to her?” I asked.

“Nothing...Don’t worry about it” he replied with a grin.

“See, you say that and it only makes me worry more”

Louis chuckled and put his hand on my shoulder.

“Exactly. Have fun, Hazza. You two deserve a good vacation...alone...on a romantic
beach...snuggled up under the moonlight”

“Alright! I get it! Just stop.” We laughed and pat me on the shoulder.

“Alright, we gotta go” I told everyone.

“Wait! You guys can’t leave without a group hug!!” Niall yelled.

The boys all attacked us in a big group hug, squishing us together in the middle of them. We laughed and caught the attention of a couple fans who happened to be in the airport as well. They yelled hellos to us and we waved them over to take a few pictures. The two girls went to Emily first and started gushing about how she was their idol and how amazing she was. I smiled at her reaction to them. She was so grateful to them and promised to follow each of them on twitter. We took a few pictures before our flight was called and we had to leave.

“I’m afraid Emily and I have to leave now” I said to them.

“Oh, alright. Are you two going on a vacation somewhere by America?” One of them asked.

“Yes, but it's a secret. We’d really like to spend our vacation away from fans and such, so could you please keep it quiet for a while? It would mean a lot to us” I said, hoping that they would be kind enough to agree.

“Yeah, of course” They said.

“Perfect. Thank you so much”

“You’re welcome. Have fun!” We smiled and waved at them before turning to leave. Louis decided to leave us with one last embarrassing comment by shouting, “Use protection!” at the top of his lungs.

Emily and I both turned around and flipped him the finger which only made him and the others laugh. We turned back and got in line for our flight.

“You know, I love Louis and all, but he’s a real asshole sometimes” Emily muttered.

I laughed and put my arm around her.

“I know, but just remember that we are going to be Louis free for the next two weeks”

“Thank god for that”

I smiled and kissed the side of her head. For the next two weeks she and I will finally be able to relax and get away from everything. This vacation is going to be perfect...I’ll make sure of it.

Notes