Getting Caught in the Rain

Harry wakes up on a Saturday morning to a pair of legs straddling his waist and a pair of elbows digging into his back. He glances at the clock and moans. It's only eight thirty.

He tries to ignore it, pushing his face deeper into his pillow. A little finger pokes him in the back of the neck, but he refuses to react. After a moment, the legs and the elbows disappear and he thinks maybe he's made it.

But then, the covers are thrown back and a little body climbs right into bed with him, pressing against him. Harry slowly turns his head and opens his eyes and is met with an angel. That is, if angels are four year old girls that have curly brown hair like his and blue eyes that shine in the hazy morning light.

"Daddyyyyy," the angel whines.

"Oliviaaaaa," Harry whines right back. "What is it?"

"It's time to wake up, Daddy," she squeaks in a voice only little girls have. "We're going to the park today, remember?"

"Livs, that's not until lunchtime. We've still got a few more hours until we have to get up."

Olivia sighs, like this is a major setback in her life's plans. Niall is always joking that Olivia is only four but acts like she's thirty five. Harry can't help but agree. "Fine," she says.

"You wanna sleep here with me?" Harry asks, because he knows that's what she's waiting for now. She nods and snuggles closer to him and he drops a kiss on the top of her head, closing his eyes and attempting to fall back asleep.

Five minutes have barely passed when Harry feels little puffs of breath on his face and Olivia whispers, "Daddy, is it time to get up yet?"

And that is where Harry gives up on getting an extra hour or two of sleep. "Fine, fine," he sighs, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "You win."

Delighted, Olivia claps her tiny hands and jumps out of the bed, bounding into the kitchen. "Can we make chocolate chip pancakes? Pleeeeease?"

"I dunno, Livs . . ." But Harry knows all she has to do is look at him with her big blue eyes and blink them once or twice and he'll be gone for her, absolutely gone for her, just like always.

And that's how Harry ends up making pancakes for himself and Olivia at eight forty-five in the morning. He tries to do most of it, but she insists on mixing the batter and promptly ends up getting it everywhere, like he knew she would.

At last, he manages to make two pancakes for each of them and gets her to sit down at the kitchen table. "Here you are, madam," he says, putting on an over-the-top French accent as he sets her plate down in front of her. "Ze pancakes are, how you say, served."

She giggles, and it sounds like wind chimes and a summer breeze wrapped in a warm sweater. Harry reaches into the bowl they have on their table that's filled with fruit. "What fruit do you want, Livvy? Apple, banana, peach?" Harry tries to encourage her to have fruit with her meals as much as possible.

Olivia, thank God, is usually a pretty good eater, but at the moment she's at the stage where processed junk is the only food she's interested in. She wrinkles her nose and asks, "Cookies?"

Harry puts on his stern parent face. "No, Livs. We can't have cookies for breakfast. Pick a fruit or I'll pick it for you."

She huffs, grabbing a banana. Harry hates being the bad guy, but sometimes he has to. He cuts it up for her and lines it around her plate in the shape of a smiley face, hoping to make her laugh. She does.

As they eat, the phone rangs. "Hullo?" Harry says, watching Olivia to make sure she eats all of her fruit.

"Hey," Zayn greets him. He can hear Louis and Liam talking in the background. "We still meeting you and Olive today in the park?"

"Yeah, she woke me up at eight-thirty this morning because she was so excited," Harry says loudly. Olivia sticks out her tongue and Harry sticks his out right back.

Zayn laughs. "I bet. So we'll meet you and Niall there at noon, yeah? You bringing lunch?"

"Sure. See you then. Say hey to the rest of the boys for me." Harry hangs up and turns to Olivia as she sticks the last bite of pancake in her mouth, chewing obnoxiously. He chooses not to comment on it. "Finished?" he asks. She nods, and he lifts up her plate and her napkin, checking to make sure she didn't smuggle any pieces of banana under them, as she's been known to do that. "Okay. Do you need help getting dressed?"

"Nooooo," she scoffs, hopping out of her chair and toddling into her bedroom. "I can do it myself."

"Okay," he says. "Remember, no princess tutu, okay? I need to wash it."

"I know!" she calls back, but Harry knows that she'd wear it every day if he let her.

* * *

A few hours later, Olivia is dressed and ready to go to the park. Even though she couldn't wear her tutu, she'd insisted on putting on her silver princess crown, setting it delicately on her brown curls like she was actual royalty.

Harry zips up her purple jacket and grabs the bag that he'd filled with snacks for her, their friends, and himself before ushering her out of their apartment, making sure all the lights are off. He locks the door just as the one across the hall opens to reveal his best friend and neighbor, Niall.

"Hey," Harry says, shifting the bag to his other shoulder.

"Uncle Niall!" Olivia squeals, latching herself onto his leg.

"Hey, Haz," Niall claps him on the shoulder before focusing his attention on the little girl. "What's this? I didn't know you adopted a monkey, bro." He gives his leg a little shake. "Or that they had curly brown hair." Olivia shrieks with laughter.

"No, Uncle Niall! It's me!"

"Me? I don't know a 'Me'." Niall strokes his chin.

"Olivia! It's Olivia!"

"Oh, Olivia!" Niall bends and detaches her from his leg, swinging her up onto his hip. "How are you today, Princess Olivia?" She giggles as they begin to walk down the hallway towards the stairs. "Did you eat something yummy for breakfast?"

Olivia tells him, "We had chocolate-chip pancakes, right, Daddy?"

Harry nods. "We sure did. Livvy even ate a banana, didn't you?"

"I did!" she agrees. "The whole thing."

Niall widens his eyes comically. "Wow."

The walk to the park is mostly filled with Niall asking Olivia questions and her chattering on and on back to him, soon getting lost in her own world of storytelling. Harry just listens, occasionally switching the bag when one of his shoulders starts to hurt.

They get to the park and Harry sees three figures off in the distance, and as they get closer and closer he can tell that it's Liam, Louis, and Zayn, waiting for them because Liam likes to be early no matter where they're going.

"Hey," Harry greets them, dropping the bag on the ground with a loud thud and massaging his shoulder blade. "Christ, that thing is heavy."

Liam bends and picks it up with one arm, his huge biceps flexing. "Heavy? C'mon, Haz, you need to start getting in shape," he jokes. Liam is a trainer at a gym and often gets called "Superman" because of the strength he doesn't realize he posesses.

"Sorry that I'm busy doing work that you actually need a degree to do," Harry shoots back, his tone light. He and Liam often banter about the fact that Harry's got a fancy-schmancy corporate job while Liam trains overweight people for a living.

Before Liam can roll his eyes and respond, Olivia shrieks, "Uncle Lou!" and jumps from Niall's arms to Louis's, clinging to him like a baby koala. Louis has four little sisters and therefore is a favorite among kids. He's the number one designated babysitter for when Harry has to work late.

"Hey, Munchkin," Louis says, kissing the top of her head. "How ya doin'?"

"Uncle Lou, did you see my new princess crown?" Olivia pats the top of her head. "Now when you and Uncle Niall come over we can play Kings and Queens again!" Harry had accidentally trod on Olivia's old princess tiara, snapping it in half. Instead of admitting to breaking it, he had told her that he was getting her an even better crown so she could rule over an even bigger kingdom, and Olivia seemed to buy it.

Louis throws a suble wink at Harry before looking closely at Olivia's crown. "Wow! That is one fancy crown. Even better than the one before!"

"Yeah! Daddy says it means I'm the princess of an even bigger kingdom!" Olivia says enthusiastically. Louis laughs.

"Wow. Do you think you can handle it?"

"Of course she can," Zayn cuts in, taking Olivia away from Louis and swinging her up in the air. "Come on, Princess Livvy, want me and Uncle Liam to push you on the swings?"

"Yes!" Olivia shrieks, and they run off, Liam trailing behind, leaving Harry with Niall and Louis.

Once they're a safe distance away, Niall clears his throat. "Harry, mate, we have to tell you something."

"What?"

"You remember how that newspaper did a report on us in the Locals section?" A popular newspaper in town, The Scribe, had done a segment on the record shop that Louis and Niall owned. It had been a good article; the reporter who had written it claimed that the shop was a refreshing trip into the past, filled with CDs, tapes, and records that hold classics and even some new hits you won't mind listening to.

"Yeah," Harry says. "Why?"

"Well, it's been getting more and more customers lately because of the article, and we've had to start taking more shifts," Niall explains, chewing his lip. "So we, uh, can't exactly watch Olivia anymore."

"What? Why can't you ask one of your other employees to take over your shifts with you?" Niall and Louis had hired a couple of college-age students to work alongside them. They were very picky about who could work there and who couldn't; the employees had to have a very deep and particular love of music, much like the owners.

"They're already working double, and Haz, we've got to organize finances as well," Louis says gently. "The store and watching Olivia is just too much right now." Olivia is starting nursery school in a month, and usually Louis or Niall pick her up and watch her until Harry gets home from work, since Liam is at the gym and Zayn works as a secondary school art teacher, instructing the kids how to sculpt and paint and dig deep into their souls.

But clearly that isn't going to work anymore, as all of his friends have got jobs and they can't help out anymore. "We're sorry, man," Louis says, putting a hand on Harry's shoulder. "You know we adore Ols, but we just can't keep taking her anymore."

They look genuinely worried, and out of the corner of his eyes Harry sees Liam and Zayn watching them with concern while Olivia swings on obliviously, singing a made-up tune. He instantly feels guilty.

"No, no, it's fine," he mumbles. "You guys have jobs. Watching her isn't your real jobs, and I'm sorry I've made it seem that way. I'll think of something."

He tries to smile convincingly, and Louis and Niall look cheered up. "It'll be okay," Niall says, ruffling his hair. "We'll figure it out. Come on, let's go play."

Harry follows his friends, but his mind is clouded with worry. Now what will he do? With none of them available, who will watch Olivia while he works? He supposes he could find someone's house for her to go to, but he knows she likes it better when she's got her own things to play with.

Worst comes to worst, he can always bring her back to Holmes Chapel to stay with his family while he works, but the drive is long and tiring. Harry tugs at his lip and sighs. He really doesn't want to think about this now.

He catches up to his friends, sitting down on the playground bench and watching Zayn and Liam push Olivia on the swings. She'd insisted on using a "big kid swing" so they're not pushing hard, but the way she's shrieking it's like she's fifty feet in the air.

"Higher! Higher!" she crows.

"Be careful," Harry calls. Olivia's eyes land on him and her face lights up in a huge smile.

"Watch me!" she shouts, and before any of the boys can intervene Olivia is shooting forward and jumping off the swing. She seems to hover in midair for a minute before gracefully soaring to the ground, landing impossibly lightly on her feet. She runs over to Harry and climbs onto his lap. "Did you see me? Did you see what I did?"

"I did," Harry nods, and he has to admit that there was something rather impressive about it. "That was awesome, pumpkin."

"Come play with me," she orders, and Harry obediently gets up and follows her. Zayn jokingly makes a whiplash motion in the air, and Harry rolls his eyes. The other boys often make fun of how whipped he is for his daughter.

While Harry's counting and the rest of them are hiding, Liam comes up and whispers, "Harry, just a suggestion . . . maybe you should consider hiring a nanny?"

Harry doesn't acknowledge him, just keeps counting, but his mind is racing now. A nanny? He'd never considered it. For almost five years now, it's always just been him and Olivia. He pictures another person picking her up from school, taking her home, making her a snack, helping her with homework. He doesn't know if he likes the idea.

He literally has no clue what other option he has, though. And although he loves Olivia more than anything, if he wants to be able to keep her, he has to find a way to make money and keep her safe at the same time.

As they walk home a few hours later, Harry carries Olivia and she falls asleep, her head on his shoulder, making those little snuffling noises against his neck. Harry tilts his head and kisses her hair before saying quietly to his friends, "I guess we'll have to put an ad in the paper, then, huh?"