Against the Odds

A/N: Okay, I’m really sorry for the long wait! But I’m feeling inspired again and I don’t think it will be that long again.

I know this chapter is all kinds of sappy, but I hope you like it. Please take the time to let me know what you think! I’d really appreciate the feedback!

Enjoy! :)

*************

The evening started off completely normal, as far as Emma was concerned. She had been picked up at Molly’s by her parents and they had gone back home and gone through their usual routine. Alex sat down and helped her go through the homework she hadn’t finished up at her grandmother’s while Harry whipped them up something quick for dinner. Then, after homework was finished and they had eaten, it was bath time. It wasn’t until after she was dried off, clad in pajamas, and the tangles had been worked out of her wet, thick blonde hair, that the night changed from just a normal night to one that she’d always remember.

“Mummy! Daddy! I’m clean and...” Emma’s skipping halted as soon as she moved through the kitchen door and spotted her parents leaning up against the kitchen counter, seemingly attached right at the lips. “Ick! Come on!”

“Emma!” Harry called out as he stepped back from his wife, whose cheeks were flushed pink with excitement and a tad bit of embarrassment. He clapped his hands together and turned towards his daughter with a wide smile. “I’d say we’re sorry, but we’re not…” He laughed when Emma just rolled her eyes before he continued, “But I have a feeling you might be willing to forget about it and sit and have a bowl of ice cream with us? Chocolate chip cookie dough?”

Emma’s eyes widened and her head bobbed up and down in agreement. “What kind?”

“Why, Blue Bell of course,” Alex said with a wink towards her adorable daughter. “What else?”

“Yes!” Emma danced on her feet and clapped her hands together as Harry went to pull the carton of ice cream from their special stash in the freezer.

“Come on, Bug,” Alex laughed and motioned towards the kitchen table. “Let’s let Daddy dish it out for us while we sit.”

“Blue Bell is usually only for special occasions,” Emma chattered happily as she followed Alex to the table and slid into her normal chair. “Like, birthdays or...uh-oh. Is it someone’s birthday and I forgot?”

“No,” Alex laughed and shared a look and a small smile with Harry as he moved up to the table, passing out bowls to Alex and Emma before sitting down with his own. “It’s no one’s birthday. Your’s is the next birthday we have around here.”

“I’ll be nine,” Emma replied, though her big blue eyes were focused intently on the ice bite of ice cream she was bringing to her mouth.

“Nine,” Alex sighed and shook her head. “I can’t believe it.”

Emma swallowed her ice cream and then looked at Alex and nodded seriously. “I know, Mum. It’s old.”

Harry chuckled around his own bite of ice cream. “You think so, Em?” Emma shrugged, her attention once again focused on scooping up another bite of ice cream. Harry caught Alex’s gaze and her eyes danced as she smiled wide and gave him a slight nod. “Tell me, Princess Emma,” Harry drawled. “Do you think nine years old is too old to be a big sister then?”

Emma turned slightly confused eyes to Harry, her spoon frozen on it’s way back down to the bowl. “That’s a silly thing to say, Dad. Of course nine years old isn’t too old to be a big sister.”

“No?” Alex asked, drawing her daughter’s attention to her. “Well, I suppose that’s a good thing, Bug. Because that’s how old you’ll be when you become a big sister this fall.”

It took a second for it to register with Emma, for her to understand exactly what her mother was telling her; but once it did, the look on her face threatened to send Alex into giggles and tears at the very same time. Emma’s eyes went wide, her spoon dropped into her bowl, and she had this smile that twitched between unsure and ready to beam wide at any moment.

“Mum?” Emma squeaked. “I’m going to be a big sister?”

Alex leaned forward and, deciding to go for sweet in that moment, smiled softly as she tucked a piece of hair behind her daughter’s ear. “Yes, my darling. You are going to have a little brother or sister. We just found out today.”

Emma’s gaze whipped towards Harry and then back to Alex, still not sure if she should believe what she was hearing or not. “Are you messing with me, Mum?” she asked, making both Alex and Harry chuckle.

“Emma,” Harry called softly, bringing her attention back to him. “We are absolutely not messing with you. Congratulations, big sister.”

“Big sister!” Emma squealed as it finally sunk in; as she finally believed what she was hearing. She leapt from her chair and threw her arms around Harry, hugging him tightly. “I can’t believe it! Thank you! Thank you!” She squeezed him tightly once more and then turned and rushed right into her mother’s arms.

“You’re happy then, Em?” Alex murmured into her daughter’s hair as she held her tightly in her embrace, unable to help the tears that sprang into her eyes.

“Oh Mummy, yes! I’m so excited!” Emma pulled back and her little hands moved to play in Alex’s hair; something she’d done as a habit more when she was really little, but not so much in recent years. And it made Alex tear up even more. “Are you happy, Mummy?”

“Yes,” Alex let out a breath of a laugh and smudged at her damp eyes. She looked over at Harry, finding him watching them with tears in his own eyes. “We’re beyond happy, baby.”

“We couldn’t wait to tell you,” Harry said, reaching over to stroke a hand over Emma’s hair. “We couldn’t wait for you to know with us.”

“Oh my gosh,” Emma sighed, her smile a mile wide as she nearly bounced back into her chair, her ice cream all but forgotten in front of her. “I can’t believe it! When will it be born? When will you know if it’s a boy or a girl? Can I help pick a name?”

“Ha!” Harry’s head tipped back with laughter. “We don’t know exactly when it will be born yet. Sometime in September maybe?” He looked to Alex for confirmation.

“Around there,” Alex nodded, grinning wide. “I won’t go to to the doctor for a few weeks, but once I do, we’ll get a better due date. And we won’t know if it’s a boy or a girl for awhile, but we promise that we’ll tell you when we know.”

“And,” Harry added. “You can absolutely help us pick out a name when the time comes. It will, after all, be your baby brother or sister.”

“It will be,” Emma nodded excitedly. “Do Mimi and Poppy know yet?”

“No,” Alex shook her head. “We told you first. We probably won’t tell them until after I go to the doctor. Do you think you can keep it a secret that long, Em?”

“Oh man,” Emma sighed dramatically, sinking back into her chair and making her parents laugh. “It’ll be hard, but I can keep the secret.”

Alex’s smile was happy and the very best kind of content as she looked at her daughter. “I know you can...big sister.”

************

“Can I see it?”

Alex looked up at her husband’s reflection behind her in the bathroom mirror. She slid her toothbrush back into the holder and smiled back at him, tipping her head to the side. “It?”

He grinned, no shame at all as he replied, “The test…”

She laughed softly. “The pregnancy test? You want to see it?”

He leaned in closer, his body surrounding hers as his hand laid flat on on the counter on either side of hers. His eyes held hers as he dipped and pressed his lips softly against her neck. “Come on love, you know that I do.”

“Of course you do,” Alex sighed, torn between wanting to hold his lips to her skin and never let them leave or retrieving the test he wanted to see. But she took a deep breath and, moving out of the circle of his arms, she opened her bathroom drawer and pulled out the box the test had come in. She opened it and pulled out the stick carefully before turning it around to show him with a smile and a bite to her lip. “Here you go. Two pink lines.”

“Two pink lines,” he echoed, shaking his head as that crazy sense of disbelief washed over him once again. His eyes stayed on the stick for a long moment before he couldn’t help it any longer and his gaze dropped down to her still flat stomach. A small bit of pale skin was showing between the top of her lacy boyshorts and the bottom of the light camisole she wore and before he could stop him, his hands were there, pushing up under the camisole and resting on her warm, soft skin.

She couldn’t help but smile at his hands on her, at the way it made her sentimental and made her want to drag him to the bedroom at the same time. Choosing to indulge the sentimental for just a moment, she set the test stick carefully on the counter and then leaned into him, her hands running up his arms to his shoulders.

“Harry….do you remember when you came home to Texas with me for the first time to meet my family?” she asked, her voice husky and soft as she tipped her face up towards his.

“Yes, of course…” His lips tilted up at the sides and his hands spread out over her waist, his fingertips moving over her hips as his thumbs stayed to stroke lightly again and again over her soft stomach.

“And remember that first morning, when you saw that picture of me pregnant with Emma?”

His eyes sparked with the memory and he leaned further into her, his hips pressing hers into the counter behind her. “Oh Alex...yes, I remember.”

Alex arched against him, grinning as she felt him pressed against her; long and hard. “And do remember how you told me that someday, you wanted to make my belly swell like that...that someday, you wanted to put your babies in here.”

“Alex,” Harry groaned into a laugh and then bent to press a warm, soft, but entirely took short kiss to her lips. Then, much to her surprise, his hands moved around her waist and he was lifting her up onto the counter and stepping between her parted legs. His hands moved to her camisole. He pushed it up over her stomach and then her breasts before pulling it from her completely and tossing it down to the floor of the bathroom. “How could I possibly forget that?”

But before she could answer, he was kissing her again. This time it was longer, hotter; full of pent up passion and the realization of the dream they’d both had for so long. She moaned into his mouth as his tongue slipped in and found hers. Her fingers slid down to the hem of his t-shirt and she pulled, wanting it off of him now - sooner than now. He stepped back to pull his t-shirt over his head, but when he moved back to her, instead of pulling her lips back to his as she had fully expected him to do, he moved to his knees and pressed his lips to her stomach.

Her hands slid into that bright red hair of his and she sucked in a breath, as much from the way it felt to have his lips on her body as the way his action made the emotion surge through her body.

“I can’t believe we did it,” Harry whispered. His breath against her sensitive flesh raised Goosebumps over her skin. “We made a baby.” He kissed her again, this time drawing his lips across the flat plane of her stomach right below her belly button. She moaned softly and her fingers clenched in his hair. “I put my baby in here.”

“Harry…” Alex let out a breath of a moan and her hips arched up slightly against the press of his lips into her skin.

His eyes turned up to find hers; dark and heavy as they looked down at him. Her lips were parted and swollen from his kisses. The flush from her cheeks had spread down to her chest; her skin pink and alive with want him. He smiled against her -- and though he could have risen right then, though he knew that she desperately wanted that, he couldn’t pull himself away from his spot. He couldn’t drag his lips from her skin. He couldn’t help but want to keep kissing her; his mouth moving lower and lower with each pass of his lips over the incredible softness off her skin.

He wasn’t deterred by the lace of her panties, his fingers coming up to curl into the tops of them and pull them lower as he went, his lips following the lace down. Her hips arched and twisted and she gasped and moaned and when his mouth finally reached the soft, sensitive skin just above her center and his lips brushed back and forth slowly, she groaned, her eyes closed, her head tilting back, and she clenched her fingers tighter in his hair.

“Harry...don’t stop kissing me...please…”

His eyebrows lifted in surprise and his lips pulled into a smirk. He’d expected her to try and pull him up to her, to beg him to take her. But in no way was he complaining that she wanted him to put his mouth on her -- in fact, he wanted more than anything to give her exactly what she wanted.

After all, he thought to himself as he pulled her panties off of her and let them fall to the floor, all she’d ever done for him was give him everything he’d ever dreamed of.

“I’m not going to stop kissing you,” Harry murmured, his hands pulling her legs over his broad shoulders as he moved his lips back towards that hot, wet juncture between her thighs. “Not until you shake and cry and call out my name.”

“Jesus!” Alex gasped, his words washing over her at the same time as his tongue flicked out against her. There was no denying the magic that Harry could weave with his mouth on her sex. She’d never been able to resist the way he moved his lips and tongue over her -- gentle but insistent, teasing but thorough, sweet but fiercely demanding. She could never resist the way he would dip his tongue inside of her, scorching the millions of nerve endings there until she thought she would go mad, before finally moving up circling his tongue around her clit to work her towards the peak she sought so desperately. And she’d never, ever be able to resist when he would add his fingers into the mix, sliding inside of her and finding that spot that would make her hips buck and her legs shake and without fail, would make her come so hard she’d see stars behind her eyes.

Just like he did that night with her hands in his hair and her legs clenched around his head as she sat on that bathroom counter.

“Harry!” she cried, her back arching and her legs beginning to tremble. “Please...I’m going to...oh god!”

He groaned against her as she went, her soft voice moaning his name over and over again as the waves of it washed through her. And then he was rising up to her, pushing his boxers down and off as he went. He pressed kisses on her thighs, her stomach, her breasts, and finally her lips and then before she could even take another breath, he was pushing into her, desperate to have her. He groaned into her neck at the feel of her and his teeth nipped at the soft skin there. She squeaked and then moaned as he pressed deep inside of her again. He pulled back to look at her then, his eyes dark and heavy but his lips smiling softly back at her. And in that moment, he could have he could have been smug and self-assured, he could have teased her and made her beg for more. But instead, in that moment, he found he wanted something different than that.

He leaned in to kiss her softly and then, pulling a gasp of surprise from the smiling, flushed, happy and beautiful woman wrapped around him, he pulled her from the counter and up into his arms.

“Where are we going?” she breathed as he turned and began walking them away from the counter.

“I love you, Alex,” he murmured in response, his eyes never leaving hers as he stepped from the bathroom and out into their bedroom. “And I’m going to make love to you. On our bed. Slow and sweet and all night long.”

A soft giggle pushed from her lips and she wrapped her arms around his neck, holding on tight when he reached the bed and moved them onto it and then lowered her down to the mattress, still joined with her. “All night? Well, well, well…”

“Well, well, well…?” He chuckled and peered at her, loving how she could make him want her desperately and make him laugh at the very same time.

Her smile was smug. “It seems my grumpy, exhausted husband isn’t so tired anymore if he’s planning on all night long.”

Harry’s shout of laughter moved into the room then he was kissing her, deep and slow and pushing all of the jokes and the teasing to the side; letting the enormity of the love they felt for each other take over everything as he began to move above her.

************

Alex groaned as the sound of Harry’s phone ringing pulled her from her deep sleep. She rolled over and one eye pulled open into the dark room, finding her husband sprawled out next to her and it seemed not even a single bit disturbed by the loud, insistent ringtone of his own phone.

“Harry!” she groaned and poked at his side. When he didn’t even flinch, she pushed harder and it finally did the trick. He grunted and his eyes pulled open, already accusatory as they met hers. “Don’t look at me like that. Your phone is ringing,” she grumbled with a roll of her eyes. “At four in the morning.”

He seemed to come partly to life then, turning towards his nightstand and grabbing blindly for his phone. When he finally found it, he fumbled with it for just a moment before swiping his finger across the screen, not even looking at the caller ID before he pulled it to his ear. “Mmmphh?”

Alex couldn’t help but smile at his groggy, scratchy greeting, even as she hoped whomever was calling him wasn’t calling with a reason that was going to drag them out of bed that early. She didn’t know exactly how long before they’d finally gone to sleep, but it wasn’t more than just a few hours and she desperately wanted a couple more before she had to get Emma up to start the day.

“Will?” Harry blinked and forced his eyes open. “No, it’s okay...is everything…” He trailed off and Alex watched as a slow smile spread across his face and his eyes turned to hers, still sleepy but a bit wider and brighter than they had been a moment before. “No, thank you for calling and letting us know...I’m so thrilled you did...yes, I’ll let Alex know right now. Good luck and give Kate our love...okay. Okay, keep us updated….okay, bye.”

He pulled the phone away from ear and let out a soft laugh as he slid it back onto his nightstand. “Kate’s in labor,” he said, not even waiting for Alex to ask. “They just checked into the hospital.”

“Shut up,” Alex sat straight up in bed, a wide smile on her face and her hair somewhat of a wild mess as it settled around her shoulders. “She’s having the baby today?!”

“Yes,” Harry chuckled and nodded his head, unable to find his wife anything but adorable in that moment. “It seems we’re right in the middle of a Wales baby boom.”

“What a time to be alive,” Alex grinned, bringing a rumble of laughter from Harry. She giggled herself and then laid back down in the bed, pulling the covers back up as she let Harry pull her into his side. “What did Will say? They’re going to keep us informed, right?”

“Yes,” Harry nodded and settled in, wrapping his arms around Alex and pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “They’ll call us once the baby has been born and before they put out a press release.”

“I’m so excited,” Alex murmured, even as she let out a yawn and snuggled into him further. “Harry?”

“Mhmmm?” His own eyes were already sliding back closed.

“Remember when Henry was born? And you surprised me at the hospital?”

Harry felt his heart thump in his chest, right under where her head was currently resting. “Of course I do,” he murmured. “I hadn’t seen you in four months and you looked like...well, heaven. Standing there and shining bright and holding my nephew. The image is burned in my brain.”

Alex sighed and her eyes turned up to his. “If I wasn’t so exhausted, you would be getting so incredibly lucky right now.”

Harry chuckled and leaned down to kiss her softly. “Maybe I can get lucky later?”

“Are you kidding? I’m pregnant and we’re getting a new niece or nephew today and we’ll get to go meet him or her and hold the baby and snuggle it and...oh yes,” she winked up at him before settling into him again. “I’d say you’ve got a lot of luck coming your way.”

*************

They could almost feel the air of excitement in London that morning. They dropped Emma - who was just beside herself with excitement but sworn to absolute secrecy regarding anything regarding the impending arrival of her new cousin or the fact that she was going to be a big sister - off at school, and then they made their way to Kensington Palace, armed boxes of pastries and mugs of tea and coffee, for which the harried members of the press office that they shared jointly with Will and Kate were incredibly grateful.

“You know, I cannot believe you’ve left me hanging for over twenty four hours.”

Alex laughed in surprise as she spun to find Charlotte standing in front of her, the brunette’s arms crossed over her chest while she pulled the most cross look she could manage on her face. Alex took a sip of her tea and shrugged. “I have no idea what you could possibly mean. And what are you even doing here? You’re supposed to be on maternity leave.”

Charlotte smirked. “Please. They nearly fell all over themselves when I called and asked if they needed help handling the press this morning.”

“You’re really not confident in yourself at all, are you?” Alex snickered.

“Alexandra,” Charlotte narrowed her eyes and pulled Alex off to the side a bit, ensuring that no one was listening. “Two nights ago you asked me to get you a pregnancy test. I did exactly that and I didn’t tell anyone. Not even your brother - my husband. Do you know how hard that is? You can’t just sit here and expect me to…”

“Charlotte,” Alex whispered, unable to help the smile that pulled at her lips. “Look at my husband. Just...look at him.”

Charlotte’s eyebrows scrunched together but she did exactly as Alex said and turned to peek around the corner, finding Harry talking and laughing with Robin. He was standing tall and straight and proud and…

“Oh Christ,” Charlotte gave a half-laugh, half snort. “I recognize that look. Matt looked just like that when we found I was pregnant with Cooper. Just...as proud as a fucking peacock.”

Alex snickered. “That’s the look.”

Charlotte’s lips curled up into a smile and her voice turned soft. “Because he knocked you up.”

“Yes, Aunt Charlotte,” Alex smiled and nodded slowly. “He knocked me up.”

“God,” Charlotte shook her head and then pulled her friend into a tight hug. “Congratulations. I’m so excited for you guys. Now tell me,” she whispered as she pulled back with a smirk of a smile on her face. “Did he nearly stroke out when you told him?”

Alex burst out into laughter. “Nearly,” she finally managed to reply. “Come on, let’s get out of this corner before someone comes after us. And I hate to ask this, but can you not tell Matt for just a bit longer?”

“Ugh, fine,” Charlotte sighed, though she was still smiling. “I’ll find some way to make you pay me back for that later.”

“Of course,” Alex snickered and rolled her eyes as they stepped back around the corner. Harry’s eyes moved to her immediately and he smiled and winked at her. He didn’t need to ask what they’d been whispering about, he knew, but his smile told Alex that he didn’t mind one bit. He’d trust Charlotte with their very private news almost more than he’d trust anyone else in his life.

“Wales,” Charlotte murmured, clinking her tea cup to his and nodding, her own silent way of congratulating him because she couldn’t do it out loud.

“Charlotte,” he grinned, nodding in return. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you…”

“On maternity leave, yes,” she finished for him, waving a dismissive hand in the air. “I’m helping out. You’re paying me anyway, might as well get a little work in.”

“Jonesing for the insanity a bit?” Harry teased.

“Yes, and you’re distracting me,” Charlotte bantered back, bringing a laugh from those around them that weren’t busy answering calls and typing up drafts of announcements.

“I think Robin has some charity requests for us to go over,” Alex laughed, nodding her head in the direction of the office that she and Harry shared when they spent time in the KP offices. “Why don’t we do that and let them get to work. It’s going to get crazy around here once the call comes in.”

They took their leave, wishing the team luck and then stepped into their private office, each armed with files from Robin on the charities that had requested meetings with them in the upcoming months.

“You just wanted to get me alone,” Harry teased when he shut the door behind them. Alex turned to him with a smirk of a smile, but before she could reply, Harry’s phone buzzed in his pocket. A grin lit up his face as he looked at the screen. “It’s a text from William.” He reached for Alex, pulling her close and turning the screen to her.

She gasped. “It’s a girl! Born at 8:34 am. Mum and daughter are happy and healthy!” she read, her eyes filling with tears as Harry tapped the photo that had come attached with the text. “Harry! Look at her! She’s so tiny!”

“She is! And beautiful,” he agreed, his arm moving around Alex and pulling her close to him.

“Oh I can’t wait to meet her,” Alex sighed.

“Me either, love. Me either.”

**********

As it turned out, the wait to meet their new niece wasn’t a very long wait at all. To their surprise, along with the surprise of most of the world and the media, Will and Kate stepped out and introduced their baby daughter to the world not even ten hours after her birth before climbing into a waiting Range Rover and heading home to Kensington Palace. Still, Alex and Harry decided to wait until the following day before heading over for a visit, choosing to allow Kate to get a little bit of rest before having to welcome visitors on their home.

But the next morning, after they had given Kate’s parents and Charles and Camilla the opportunity to meet their new granddaughter first, the Sussex family made the short drive over to Kensington Palace once again.

“It’ll be nice once our place is finished and all we have to do is walk over to the offices or to visit Will and Kate,” Alex said after they’d driven through the gates, dutifully waving at the waiting photographers who were fervently documenting every visitor to the yet unnamed baby Princess of Cambridge.

“Just a couple more months,” Harry murmured. He steered the car down the gravel drive and around to the wing of the palace that housed Will and Kate’s apartments.

“I’m so excited for my new room,” Emma piped up from the backseat. “And my new cousin...and my new baby brother or sister!”

“So much to be excited about,” Harry chuckled. “But remember, the new baby is still a secret for now.”

“I knoooooow,” Emma sassed, tossing a pointed look at Harry. “You don’t have to keep reminding me.”

“I think he’s reminding himself more than anything,” Alex laughed, tossing a wink in Emma’s direction as Harry pulled the car to a stop.

They were quick to exit the car and the door to Will and Kate’s place pulled open before they could even knock, a clearly tired but very happy William waiting to welcome them in.

“Uncle Will!” Emma was the first to greet him, running up to hug him before standing aside and letting her parents greet him.

“Congratulations,” Alex grinned as she leaned in to let him kiss her cheeks and then hug her. “I’m so happy for you guys.”

“Thank you,” Will grinned before turning to Harry. The two brothers enfolded each other into a tight hug, the emotion passing between them so evident to Alex that it made her a bit misty-eyed. “So listen, Father and Camilla are still in the living room with Henry, Kate, and the new baby. Alex and Emma, why don’t you guys go in...I wanted to have a private word with Harry if I could.”

“Sure,” Alex nodded, smiling as she looked back and forth between Will and her husband. “Take your time. The more snuggle time I get with the baby means the more jealous Harry will be.”

“Nice,” Harry chuckled, shaking his head before kissing Alex’s cheek and nodding at her to go ahead into the living room. Once his wife and daughter had disappeared around the corner, he followed his brother across the marble hallway and into Will’s private study.

“What’s going on, Will?” Harry asked asked Will closed the heavy wood double doors behind them.

“Sit,” Will motioned for Harry to take a seat in one of the deep leather chairs and then took the one across from him. “I wanted to talk to you...about her name.”

“Your daughter’s?” Harry looked slightly surprised.

“Yes,” William nodded, a soft smile tilting at his lips. “We’ve picked out a name, but I wanted to run it by you first.”

And suddenly Harry understood. Though somewhere in his mind he had known this was a probability, though he had thought he was emotionally prepared for this moment, it still made his heart thump in his chest and brought a lump to his throat. He took a deep breath, blinked at the emotion in his eyes, and let it out and then sat forward in his chair. “You’ve named her after Mum, haven’t you?”

“Well, we’ve honestly named her after several people, but yes, Mum is one of them. We want to call her Charlotte Elizabeth Diana.”

A wide smile moved across Harry’s face as he took in the names. “Charlotte is for Charles? For Father?”

“Yes. And Charlotte is also Pippa’s middle name,” Will answered with a matching grin. “And Elizabeth...well, of course you know that’s for Gran. It’s also Kate’s and Carole’s middle name. And then Diana for Mum.”

“I think it’s beautiful,” Harry nodded. “I love it. Mum would love it.”

“I think so, too,” Will murmured. “And you’re sure you’re okay with us using Mum’s name?”

Harry blinked. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

“I don’t know,” Will sighed and shrugged. “I wouldn’t want you to think that you couldn’t use the name because we’re using it…”

“Okay, now that’s absurd, William,” Harry laughed. “I love that you’re honoring Mum like this. And I would never think that I couldn’t use the name if I wanted to when Alex has the baby.”

“I didn’t think so,” William breathed, relaxing into his chair. “But I thought I should make sure and...wait.” He broke off and peered at Harry. “Did you say when Alex has the baby?”

Harry’s eyes widened as he realized his error. “I...well, shit. Yes, I guess I did say that.”

“Ha!” William clapped his hands together as he laughed. “That’s amazing. Alex is pregnant then?”

“Yes, she is. We literally just found out two days ago. But you cannot breathe a word,” Harry pointed at his brother, though he couldn’t help but chuckle along with him. “Though I suppose I’m doing a fine job of letting the cat out of the bag myself.”

“Congratulations, little brother,” William grinned. He stood and Harry followed, letting William enfold him into another tight hug. “That’s incredibly exciting. And I won’t say a word, not even to Kate.”

“Thank you,” Harry nodded, finding the emotions overwhelming him again. He blinked and chuckled as him and Will stepped back from each other. “I appreciate that.”

“Sure,” Will nodded. “Alright, now would you like to go meet Charlotte?”

“More than anything,” Harry replied with a smile, already moving to follow his brother from the room. His smile pulled even wider and if it were possible, his heart felt even fuller when they entered the living room and his eyes found Alex, cooing down at a tiny little bundle in her arms while Emma leaned in and did the same on one side and his two and a half year old nephew did the same from the other side.

He greeted his father and Camilla quickly and then turned to Kate, kissing her cheeks and smiling down at her. “Congratulations, Mum. You look wonderful.”

“Such a charmer,” Kate snickered. “But thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” Harry grinned and then turned and moved towards his family sitting on the couch. He tickled his nephew and then plucked the laughing little boy up into his arms before sliding in next to his wife on the couch. “Now who do we have here, Henry?”

“Charlotte!” Henry exclaimed, clapping his hands together proudly. “My sister!”

“That’s right,” Harry kissed his nephew’s blonde head and then turned and met Alex’s eyes. “Hi.”

“Hi,” Alex whispered in return, looking over and smiling at her husband. “Your niece is beautiful. Do want to hold her?”

“Of course I do.”

With a little bit of shuffling, Henry was shifted over to sit with Emma and then Alex carefully lifted the tiny, sleeping baby girl into Harry’s arms, feeling her entire body warm as she watched him cuddle her close.

“Oh wow, she’s so tiny. And incredibly gorgeous,” Harry murmured as he took in her sweet sleeping face. “Just perfect.”