#salute extra

WHO IS MOST LIKELY TO:

Make breakfast: harry

Cuddle the other for no reason: piper, probably, but harry definitely doesn’t mind a cuddle

Sleep on the couch after an argument: piper would probably make a big show of pulling out the extra sheets and sleeping on the couch if they got into a fight but she’d be regretting it when she was trying to fall asleep on the hard couch and harry would come down in the middle of the night and find her shifting on the couch and she’d pretend she was still mad at him but when he held out his hand and said ‘come on, petal, i miss you in bed’ she wouldn’t hesitate to take it

Drive and who is most likely to ride shotgun: harry’s driving if they want to get wherever they’re going without him pulling out all his hair with stress over piper’s terrible driving

Choose the music in the car: it’s a back and forth between them

Get jealous: both; piper’s would be more obvious, and harry’s would probably get him a bit possessive and hot and bothered

Break the expensive gift rule: harry because he’s fucking loaded

Remember anniversaries: both

Sneak sweets in the shopping cart: PIPER

Hog the covers at night: bertie

1. What do you do when the other is upset?

Piper: Harry is the worst when he’s upset because he gets all broody and he never wants to talk about what’s bothering him so usually its easier to let him come to me. He just has to work through things on his own sometimes and when he’s ready he’ll come talk it through with me. i just give him the space he needs until he’s ready to let me know what’s bothering him and then I just offer him whatever advice or support I can.

Harry: Piper is probably at the other end of the spectrum. She gets very emotional about things very easily, whether it’s anger or sadness or someone hurting her feelings. Usually I try and talk her down a bit so she isn’t so swept up in her emotions and then just help her in whatever way that she needs, whether its just to talk, or to help her find a solution, or even just to give her a hug.

2. Who is more romantic? Give examples.

Piper: Harry is definitely more romantic than I am. He’s always doing little things, like making me breakfast in bed, or offering a back massage after a long day, or surprising me with a date. And he’s got this habit of saying these things completely out of the blue that make my heart just melt. Or my toes curl, but usually he’s whispering those little things in my ear instead.

Harry: Okay, maybe I am a bit of a romantic, but Piper has her moments too. I mean, sure, she’s not the greatest cook --

Piper: hey!

Harry: -- and usually her schemes for dates somehow go wrong in the end and she once threw my back out trying to give me a massage but she always makes the effort and that’s what really matters.

3. What do your families think of your relationship?

Harry: My family have only met Piper over video chat and not in person but she’s still managed to win them over completely, naturally. I’m pretty sure my mum was just happy that I’d found someone to be with who understood me and loved me because I was so resistant to relationships in the past because of my job

Piper: It’s the same for me. My mum loves Harry. She’d been on me to settle down for ages which was ridiculous because I was only 23 and how many 23 year olds do you know that are settled down -- anyway, I’m pretty sure the fact that Harry was the one that managed to trap me into marriage so young made him a god in her eyes

Harry: What do you mean trap you? Of the two of us, I’m pretty sure I was the one being trapped.

Piper: You’re damn lucky I trapped you, I’m a blessing

Harry: There’s no one I’d rather be trapped by

Piper: You are such a bloody softie, honestly.

4. If you had to wear a couples costume for Halloween, what would you go as?

Piper: Couples costumes!! I have the perfect idea!

Harry: ... oh here we go

Piper: We would definitely dress up as Mulder and Scully, which is perfect because I’m a redhead and technically a doctor too and Harry’s very... uh...

Harry: No, go on, finish that sentence. What particular quality of Mulder’s do I embody so perfectly in your mind

Piper: I mean, even you can’t deny that you’re a bit of a conspiracy theorist

Harry: I’m a spy, I’m supposed to be skeptical, it’s part of the bloody job description!

Piper: Okay but you can’t deny that’s something Mulder would say too

5. Are you both earlier risers? Or do you both sleep in? Or is there one of each?

Harry: Piper would sleep in until the evening if she had the option, she is definitely not an early riser

Piper: And Harry is inhuman and likes to rise before the sun basically every day

Harry: I just prefer getting an early start to my day and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Although, I can be persuaded to stay in bed a little longer in the morning. With the right incentive, that is.

6. Do you have any routines at night? Before bed, in bed, etc.

Piper: Nighttime routines can be a bit of an ordeal with the kids. They’ve gotten used to things being a certain way and some of them don’t like having the plans deviate. Basically, I’m in charge of getting Violet ready for bed and tucking her in and Harry tackles Jack and keeps an eye on Sara who insists on doing everything on her own. And we swap out story time with the kids so one week Harry will do stories with Sara while I do stories with Violet and then we’ll swtich. And Jack just usually goes along with whoever picks him up first because he just likes a good cuddle before bed. So does Harry, for that matter.

Harry: There’s nothing wrong with liking a good cuddle. It’s nice, sometimes, after all the hustle and bustle during the day at work and with the kids to just lie with Piper in my arms and just be together. When she’s not in the mood to read before bed, she sort of likes to just burrow against me and snuggle in and I really like that time. Except when she gets a bit handsy during cuddle time

Piper: Excuse you, you love when I get handsy during cuddle time because it generally means you’re going to end up getting off

Harry: Maybe, but don’t pretend you don’t have ulterior motives too

Piper: Oh, I’m never pretending, I always have ulterior motives and luckily for me, you’re very easy to convince.

7. What nicknames do you have for each other?

Harry: Piper will always be my petal

Piper: I don’t really have any nicknames for Harry, although every now and then I’ll call him ‘baby’ by accident and he never seems to mind

8. Say you had a child, who is the strict parent and who is the lenient parent?

Harry: I think we’re both pretty balanced actually. I wouldn’t say either of us is more lenient or more strict with the kids than the other one is.

Piper: I definitely agree. I think I always expected it to be me being the lenient one and Harry being the strict one, just because of our personalities, but the kids bring out a playful side in Harry that sort of mellows out the stricter habits he’s picked up over the years from his job, and I think I’m okay with being firm when I have to.

Harry: The important thing with Piper and I is that we’re on the same page with how we deal with the kids getting emotional or acting out. We’re all about talking in this family, rather than getting angry or upset, and I think that helps a lot

Piper: But we’ve got three amazing kids so it’s not too hard to keep it balanced. You know, I think, overall, we’ve done a pretty damn good job raising our family.

Harry: I couldn’t agree more.

9. Would you rather go to a fancy restaurant for a date or stay at home and watch movies with pizza?

Piper: I think movies and pizza is more common with us because of the kids so I always think its really nice going out to a fancy restaurant once in a while just to keep the romance alive.

Harry: I agree, I love taking Piper out. Seeing her all dolled up always drives me crazy and I always have a good time teasing her a bit and making her blush to get her all riled up so when we get back to an empty house and the kids are away, we can relive some excellent past dates we’ve had

Piper: Thank god Louis and El take the kids for the night because it’s always a struggle keeping quiet on date night

10. What first attracted you about the other person?

Piper: Obviously Harry’s incredibly handsome so that helped attract me to him but I think the thing that really sealed the deal was that he was so confident but that there was a gentle side of him underneath it. When we first met, I was a bit thrown off my how assertive he was but also thought it was incredibly sexy. But it wasn’t until I saw how sweet he was, how kind and tender and loving he was with me even though we’d only just met, how he cared about me and wasn’t ashamed to show it -- that’s when I knew it was love.

1. If it’s 1am and you’re still awake and wanting to talk to someone, who do you call and what do you talk about?

If I’m awake at 1am, I guarantee Harry is too because he is the lightest sleeper you’ll ever meet. Seriously, if I breathe wrong, he’s awake and asking me if I’m alright. Makes it bloody impossible to sneak downstairs to get biscuits at midnight without getting one of his judgemental stares. But if I’m awake at that time it’s probably because I’ve had a bad dream in which case its a bonus because Harry will rub my back and let me talk it out and then stroke my hair until I fall asleep again. He’s good for things like that.

2. Are you the big spoon or the little spoon?

Oh no, there is no spooning in this house. If Harry was the big spoon, he would basically suffocate me with his big man shoulders and having him draped all over me would induce some serious sweating and being sweaty in bed is basically hell on earth. I much prefer to latch onto him like a barnacle so he can’t move away from me in his sleep.

3. If you could only listen to one band/artist for the rest of your life, who would it be?

Not gonna lie, I have a pretty solid S Club 7 playlist queued up on spotify and I wouldn’t be averse to listening to that for the rest of my life although I’m pretty sure Louis would kill me after one day playing that at HQ.

4. What kind of drunk are you?

Despite what liars named Harry and Niall and Louis and Liam and Zayn might tell you, I am a very docile drunk and I definitely don’t cause trouble and I definitely don’t tell state secrets to strangers and I definitely don’t take any of my clothes off. If you’ve heard otherwise, it’s all lies.

5. Are you a team player or do you prefer to go solo?

It’s pretty hard to be anything but a team player when you’re part of a black ops group (oh shit, am I allowed to tell you about that? Listen, if you get a call from MI6 asking about me, this never happened alright?)

6. When you were younger, what did you want to be when you grew up?

A princess. Or a jedi. Or a jedi princess.

7. What’s your ultimate feel good/pick me up TV show or film?

Oh wow, there’s just so many, how do I even choose! Love Actually is one of my favourites, of course. And then any of the Jane Austen films/mini series. Bertie and I have spent many an evening watching a Jane Austen film and who could blame us with all those hunky regency men. I bet Harry would look good in one of those ruffly shirts, I wonder if I could convince him to wear one...

8. What is one scent that reminds you of home? Why?

The freshly baked pumpkin loaves my mum makes in the winter time. And the smell of brewed coffee in the morning because that means Harry is home and my home is Harry.

9. If you were given a blank piece of paper and a pen, what would happen?

That blank piece of paper would probably make a pretty good paper airplane to chuck at Louis during our team meetings. And if I miss with the airplane, I can always chuck that spare pen at him instead.

10. What are your top three most used emojis?

liam: that time you were supposed to be surveilling a drug runner when he was meeting up with his contact in the cartel 

liam: and you got nervous and drank too much sitting at the bar and ended up spilling all the details of the bust to the man sitting next to you 

liam: who ended up being the cartel leader

he had a trustworthy face! how was I supposed to know he was the head of a cartel!

zayn: pretty sure I gave you an intel folder with everyone in the cartel… that you left behind in the airport bathroom

shut up zayn

niall: oh ! that time that you busted into the wrong room in that hotel in St Petersburg and arrested that tourist instead of reznikov

louis: that was a piper classic! the poor bloke was on a family vacation wasn’t he?

okay that one totally wasn’t my fault, the room names looked really similar in cyrillic

i’d like to see you all try and distinguish words in russian

it is not easy

harry: um…

NOT YOU

zayn: you lot are forgetting the best one

zayn: remember that car bomb that was set to go off in westminster and piper couldn’t figure out how to dismantle it so she just jumped in the front and started driving

liam: and she panicked when she got to tower bridge and just floored it right over the edge into the thames!! 

niall: I remember that ! you popped out of the river looking like a drowned rat and there’s this explosion going on behind you ! what a legend !

louis: a true classic

that’s not even funny, I barely got out alive you fuckers!

louis: i’d forgotten that one, thanks for that zaynie

zayn: :P

shut up zayn!!

harry: let’s never forget the time I found you while you were running down the street naked and in handcuffs

HARRY

liam: ???

louis: when did this happen!!

niall: ha ha no way give us details!

harry: …

DON’T YOU DARE HARRY

we promised you’d never bring that up EVER

harry: sorry petal my bad

zayn: this is priceless

shut up zayn!!!

louis: we have to know this story

niall: tell us tell us tell us

never! I am taking that story TO MY GRAVE

louis: lets make a deal

louis: tell us the story and we’ll come help you out

you should come help me out without the story because YOU ARE MY FRIENDS AND FRIENDS DON’T BLACKMAIL FRIENDS

zayn: out of all the friend groups in the world this one is the most likely to involve some blackmail

I HATE ALL OF YOU

harry: even me?

ESPECIALLY YOU YOU BETRAYED ME YOU BETRAYER

niall: cmon pips give us a detail . just a place or a time would do .

okay, here is the one time offer that does not apply to harry because he is A BETRAYER AND DOESN’T DESERVE IT

harry: petal

shush you

okay, whoever gets here first to help untangle me gets to ask three questions about the naked handcuff incident

AND ONLY THREE

niall:….

liam:….

zayn:….

louis:…..

harry: I’m betting they’re all on their way

good, at least they’re willing to help me

harry: petal I’m in the lift now I’ll be there in a moment

so you just wanted to let them all kill each other trying to get details?

harry: :)

you are crafty

harry: have a earned my way out of betrayer status

for now

but watch yourself styles, you’re on thin ice

harry:….

harry: oh petal how did you manage to get your foot caught in the climbing net

no

you haven’t even heard the idea yet!

no

too late we’ve run out of time I’ve got this

what is that alarm sound?

...

6 answer me what is that alarm sound?

you’re going to want to cover your mouth as much as possible

and you’re probably also going to want to avoid breathing more than absolutely necessary

what did you do!!

I saved our arses

you can thank me later

oh I’ll do something later

i’ve got the data. front entrance in three minutes?

what the hell is this stuff?! I can hardly breath

also my eyes are burning is that normal?

you’ll be fine there’s an antidote we can take, we just need to get to a hospital like... yesterday

but we’ll be fine

...

also don’t shoot your gun because my idea is also, um, flammable

i hate your ideas

you love my ideas

I honestly don’t know how its possible but my life was so boring before you came into it

you’re welcome

that wasn’t a compliment

She could tell that he was thinking of the last time Piper had tried to organize a family gathering for Mother’s Day with just her side of the family. With Clem running around and baby Sara wailing her head off with all the extra activity in the house, Piper had nearly lost it, breaking down in tears when she’d excused herself to the kitchen to check on their meal. Harry had found her there twenty minutes later and had pulled her into his arms, letting her cry it out and promising her that they’d find a way to make mother’s day easier the next time around.

And for three years, they’d had a good routine; Piper had her day with Sara, and then with both her daughters when Violet came along, and then she had a separate day with Sydney to celebrate while Harry took the kids up to see Anne. It was a system that worked well and Piper had been all for repeating the pattern this year. It was no wonder Harry was surprised she’d change her mind.

“It’s just — my mum’s been really down lately,” Piper had explained, letting her fingers thread with Harry’s where their hands rested on her belly. “I think she’s regretting retiring so early and I know she’s been lonely so I thought having a Mother’s Day with all of us together would be nice for her.”

“So just have her over for lunch or something. The girls are older now, I’m sure they’ll be better behaved. And I’ll take the girls to see my mum like I always do.”

“But you’ve got that training segment next weekend,” Piper reminded him, “so you can’t go up to Holmes Chapel anyway. Inviting your mum means she’ll see you and the girls. And me too. I’ve missed her.”

Harry sighed, sucking his bottom lip between his teeth as he thought it through. She could tell he was wary of the idea. “It seems like a lot of work,” he said after a moment’s consideration. His eyes scanned over her face, lingering on the dark circles under her eyes and the pale hue to her skin. “You’ve got enough on your plate with work and the baby. Do you want to take this on?”

“We’ll just have a nice afternoon tea. Nothing too strenuous.” Harry still looked unconvinced so Piper tilted her head, stretching up so she could meet Harry halfway in a sweet, slow kiss. “I want to do this, Harry. You can make that my mother’s day gift.”

“As long as you’re sure.”

“I am,” Piper said firmly, her mouth stretching into a grin. “I can handle this.”

Except, she totally couldn’t handle this.

Somehow, having their mums over had stretched to include both of their sibling’s families too, and then the godmothers as well, Marlow and Eleanor joining them and bringing along their husbands and children. Instead of just the seven of them, their party had grown to include eight extra adults, seven kids, and the Tomlinson’s new puppy who couldn’t be left at home alone. And just like that, a simple afternoon tea had turned into a veritable feast and Piper had managed to run herself ragged before anything but a cup of tea had even been served.

She should have listened to her husband when he’d warned her about taking this on.

Not that she’d ever tell him. She wasn’t giving Harry the satisfaction of being right.

On top of that, Piper had woken up with a crick in her back that nothing she did could seem to erase. She’d been woken by the sounds of her daughters giggling and the smell of eggy bread and just knew that Harry had kept up the tradition of breakfast in bed even though they had plans for the day. Seeing the homemade cards in her daughters’ hands and the lovely peonies in the vase on the breakfast tray Harry was carrying had almost distracted her from the pain, but when the girls were settled on the bed with her and Harry grasped her hands to pull her upright in bed, she’d cringed hard enough for him to notice. His eyes had lingered on her all morning and she was sure the only reason he wasn’t in the kitchen hovering over her with a watchful eye was because he was the one forced to entertain their guests while she got everything ready.

And it was a good thing too because Piper had had to stop her preparations more than a few times to lean against the counter, pressing her free hand to the base of her spine to try and relieve some of the persistent pressure there. She’d had an achy back for weeks now because the baby was sitting quite a bit lower than it had with either of the girls, but it had gotten worse seemingly overnight. She had to have pulled something or other, and she was getting so frustrated with the constant ache that she was considering getting Niall to take a look at it later on.

After tea, though. If she even let on for a second that something might be wrong, Harry was going to swoop in and take over, and she wasn’t going to let Harry’s protective inclinations ruin this day after she’d worked so hard to pull it together.

“You alright, Pips?”

Piper startled and whipped up from where she’d been leaning on the counter, wincing hard when it only made the pressure in her back feel ten times worse. She plastered on a smile as she spun around to face Louis, who was standing in the doorway with a teapot in his hands.

“I’m fine,” she insisted, reaching up to wipe the sweat away that had broken out across her forehead. Louis quirked his brow sceptically and Piper huffed, setting her hands on her hips. “I’m fine, okay? Just trying to get everything sorted.”

“I can see that,” Louis said, his eyes flickering to the table laden with food. “Need a hand?”

“Nope, it’ll be done soon.” Before Louis could interject and offer his help again, Piper shuffled forward, stretching a hand out for the teapot. “Do you need a refill?”

“I’ve got it.” Louis held the teapot out of reach and slipped easily past Piper, heading over to where Piper had the kettle sitting still hot on the counter. He pulled out a nearby drawer and grabbed a spoon to scoop out the last dregs of tea leaves that had caught on the side of the pot. “How long do you think it’ll be before we can eat?”

“Not long,” Piper said as she swallowed nervously, her heart beginning to race in her chest. “Why, is everyone hungry? I’m almost done setting everything up and then Harry can help me bring it out but I still need some time on the sandwiches. But if everyone’s hungry I could bring out a plate of treats, maybe? Just to tide everyone over and —”

“Jesus, Piper, take a breath,” Louis cut in, shooting her an incredulous look over his shoulder as he haphazardly spooned new tea leaves into the pot. “Everyone’s fine. I was only asking because it’ll take us a bit of time to get all of the kids washed up to eat.”

“Oh, right.” Piper sagged back against the counter and tried to catch her breath, surprised by how easily she’d lost it. She sucked in a quick gasp and placed a hand to her sternum where she could feel the quick thump of her heart.

“You’re all flushed.” Louis was narrowing his eyes at her, scrutinizing her. “You sure you’re alright? Maybe you should sit for a moment.”

“I said I’m fine, Louis,” Piper snipped at him. She spun around and reached across the counter for a plate of sweets. “I’ll bring something out to tide everyone over.” Louis stammered like he wanted to protest but Piper began shuffling away before he could say anything. “Bring the tea when it’s ready, would you?”

She waddled down the hall toward the sitting room, smiling to herself when she heard her husband vehemently denying something his sister had said, judging by the offended tone to his voice, while the rest of the room laughed. Sure, preparing the afternoon tea was turning out to be more stressful than she’d anticipated but it was nice to see everyone she loved and cared about having a grand time together.

She was greeted warmly as she stepped into the room, Harry jumping off the arm of the couch the second he spotted her to come and take the plate from her. She pursed her lips at the automatic gesture because she was pregnant, for Christ’s sake, not missing her arms. She could managed one plate. But Harry was already sweeping it out of her hands, planting a sweet kiss on her cheek before taking two quick steps to drop the food on the table.

Piper watched him go, a small smile gracing her lips. She loved seeing him like this, a beaming grin on his face as he leaned down and offered his sister a treat just to pull the plate out of her reach. Anne, sitting beside her daughter, just laughed at Harry’s antics and plucked up a cake from the plate before turning to chat with Marlow who was sitting beside her, bouncing her newly adopted daughter on her knee to keep her happy.

“Everything is lovely, Piper.”

She jerked her head around at Eleanor’s voice, giving her a bit of a wave as she walked up. Eleanor had been wrangling a sleeping baby boy out of the car when Louis had burst in with Daniel earlier, insisting that they both needed the toilet immediately, so Piper hadn’t had a chance to greet her yet. She accepted Eleanor’s gentle hug warmly.

“Thanks. I’ve almost got everything ready to go —”

“No rush,” Eleanor cut in before Piper could get flustered, giving her the sort of easy grin that had always been reassuring in the worst moments of crisis that One Direction had faced as a team. It forced Piper to let out a sigh and try to calm herself down a bit. “Honestly, Piper, this is over and above and all of us are so grateful for it.”

“I just thought it would be nice for all of us to be together.”

“It’s perfect.” Piper looked over as her mum popped up from behind her, her hand coming to rest on Piper’s back as she leaned into her daughter.

“As long as you’re happy, mum,” Piper said.

“I’m over the moon, darling. But how about you? Feeling okay?”

“Why does everyone keep asking that,” Piper grumbled, rolling her eyes when she saw the way her mum and Eleanor shared a look. “I’m perfectly alright. Everything’s fine.”

“Are you sure you don’t need any help?” her mum asked as she studied Piper carefully. “Your face is quite flushed. If you want to sit for a bit, I can take over.”

“Mum, no. I’ve got it covered. It’s Mother’s Day, you’re supposed to be relaxing.”

“You’re a mum, too,” Eleanor chimed in sweetly, giving Piper a sly look when Piper turned her glare on her friend. “Take a break for a bit. I’m sure Harry can manage. Or get my useless husband to do some work for once.”

“What’s this about a useless husband?” Louis said, appearing in the doorway with a teapot cradled between two oven-mitt clad hands. “Look,” he said pointedly as he hefted the teapot up, “I’m incredibly useful.”

Eleanor rolled her eyes at her husband’s dramatics, waving him toward the table. “Then give Piper a hand would you? She needs a break.”

“Do you want me to do something, petal?” Harry asked, setting the plate he’d been offering around down on the table and striding quickly to her. She tried to wave him off but he slotted in next to her, his arm curving around her back. He tilted his head curiously, his brow drawn with the mild concern. “I can help.”

Piper rolled her eyes, knowing he wouldn’t take no as an answer. “If you want to help, go and grab the kids and get them cleaned up. We’ll be eating soon.”

“That I can do,” Harry said with a grin, leaning down to capture a quick kiss from her before giving the small of her back a gentle pat to get her moving. Piper had to ball her hands into fists to keep from wincing in front of everyone. “Come on Lou,” Harry called over his shoulder as he led Piper from the room, “two of those monsters are yours. You’re helping me.”

“Did you just call my kids monsters? My boys are angels.”

A round of laughter followed them out of the room and even Piper found herself snickering when she heard Louis grumbling under his breath about how great his kids were. Piper had to admit, the Tomlinson boys could be menaces but they were also sweet little boys.

They could have a new friend to play with soon too. Her and Harry had decided to wait to know the gender of this baby, but Anne was convinced it was a boy by the way Piper was carrying. The thought of a little Styles boy running around, with Harry’s features and a shock of curly hair, brought a smile to Piper’s face.

And then she stepped into the kitchen and saw all the food and remembered the endeavour she had ahead of her. She let out a weary sigh but quickly covered it with a strained smile when Harry glanced down at her.

“You sure you don’t want an extra set of hands?”

“Maybe later,” she said, waving him off. “Right now you’ve got kids to clean up.”

Harry nodded, stepping toward the door out to the back garden. Louis was just a step behind him, and he gave Piper a long look. She pursed her lips, displeased. She had no doubt in her mind that Louis was going to rat on her once it was just him and Harry out in the yard with Niall. She sent him a threatening look, hoping it would keep his mouth shut. Judging by the quirk of his lips into his familiar sly smirk, that wasn’t going to happen.

Piper got to work the second the men stepped out into the yard, walking back to where she’d left a couple of sandwiches out on the counter that needed to be cut. She plucked up the knife she’d set down earlier, getting to work cutting the sandwiches into neat rectangles and arranging them on the plate that was nearly full already.

It was while she was reaching to set a couple sandwiches on the tray that she felt a sharp twinge in her back, worse than it had been all day. With a yelp, she let the knife clatter to the counter, curling her hands around the edge and arching her body over. Unlike before, the pressure didn’t dissipate when she stretched it out; in fact, it was accompanied by a tight pain across her abdomen that knocked the breath out of her. She tucked her chin against her chest, trying to take the slow breaths she mastered over the course of three pregnancies.

There was a little alarm bell flaring in the back of her head because this was starting to feel a bit too familiar, but she resolutely ignored it. She had a month to go. There was no way this was contractions, not yet.

Braxton Hicks, she told herself as she tried to push up off the counter. She’d been through this before. It was nothing to worry about.

She was only up for a moment before she was stumbling back to the counter again, pressing her hands down as she leaned hard against it. She gasped for breath, pain searing across her belly as she felt what was undeniably a contraction. She could feel tears pressing at the corners of her eyes.

It was too early.

“Hey Pips, d’you have some water for the kids? All that running around got them —” Niall’s voice cut off quickly and then his trainers were squeaking across her kitchen floor as he hurried to her. His hand dropped to her back and she whimpered almost immediately. “Piper, what’s wrong?”

She blew out a breath through gritted teeth and muttered, “hurts.”

“Hey, look at me,” Niall said gently and Piper dragged her head up slowly, trying to take deep breaths to get through the pain. Niall’s eyes roved over her face, studying her carefully. He raised his hand to her forehead to feel for a temperature. “Where’s the pain?”

“Back,” she muttered before dropping her head once more. The pain in her abdomen had subsided and she was able to suck in a few frantic gasps.

She let out a groan when Niall pressed his palm into her lower back. “Here?”

She nodded, unable to get the words out. She startled when she felt Niall’s other hand curve over her lower belly, pressing carefully. “Here too?” he asked and she knew what he was implying.

Pushing up on the counter, she steeled herself and brushed Niall off. His hand dropped from her stomach but he kept his other hand steady on her lower back, despite her efforts to shake him off.

“I’m fine.”

“That didn’t look like fine,” Niall said in a low voice — a warning voice, the kind of voice he used when one of them was being difficult about him treating them and he wanted them to know he meant business. “That looked like a contraction.”

“Nope,” Piper said firmly, as if saying it with enough confidence meant it was true. “I’m fine. I just pulled a muscle or something in my back.” She picked up the knife once more, plucking a sandwich off the pile and quickly cutting off the crusts. “If you wanted water for the kids, the pitcher is —”

“Forget the water! You just had a contraction.”

“I didn’t,” she snapped, rounding her glare on Niall who just crossed his arms loosely, challenging her to keep up her charade. She turned away from him, setting the knife back down and crossing to the fridge so she could pull out the pitcher of water. If he was going to be completely useless, she’d have to do the work herself.

“This isn’t the time to be stubborn, Piper,” Niall admonished, grabbing the pitcher out of her hands the second she’d turned around and setting it on the counter. He stepped into her path to block her from going back to her work. “If you’re having contractions, we need to be tracking them and monitoring the progress of your labour.”

“Labour,” Piper choked out incredulously. “No, I’m not in labour. Maybe they were Braxton Hicks or something but I’m certainly not having a baby. Not when I’ve got twenty five people waiting to eat the afternoon tea I’ve spent days working on. Which, by the way, I’ve got to finish up so if you could just get out of the way —”

“How frequent are they?” Niall asked, completely ignoring everything she’d said. He plucked up her wrist, feeling for a pulse and glancing at his watch to count her heart rate. When Piper tried to wrestle her arm away, he held tight. “Have you passed the mucus plug?”

“Jesus Christ, Niall, could we not do this?”

“Second babies always come faster, Piper, and this is your third. If you are in labour, we need to be on top of it.”

“Niall, I’m not in labour! I’m trying to serve tea to my family!” Piper finally shook him off, shoving past him hard. “So would you stop with all this nonsense so I can get everything ready?”

“You’re being ridiculous. Would you just —”

Piper stopped listening as another hard contraction hit her and she was forced to stagger against the counter and catch herself. Niall was at her side in seconds, murmuring soothing words to her as he rubbed his hand gently against her lower back.

“Don’t touch me,” she growled at him, tightening her hands around the edge of the counter.

As she’d expected, he completely ignored her, lifting his wrist so he could keep an eye on his watch as he coached her through her contraction. She tried to breathe through the pain but her heart was racing and she could feel herself getting lightheaded. And it wasn’t the contractions doing it; it was the sheer panic at the idea that if this was actually labour, she’d be delivering her baby a month before his due date.

She wasn’t ready.

She heard the back door open and let out a low groan because she knew that with her luck, it was Harry walking through the door and there was no way she’d get away with hiding this if he saw her. Sure enough, she heard a quickly exhaled, “Piper,” before footsteps scuffed across the floor. Harry was bent beside her within seconds, one hand on her shoulder as he ducked his head so he could see her face.

“Petal, what’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” Piper said for the hundredth time through clenched teeth, forcing herself up off the counter as the pain began to fade. When she glanced up at Harry, he was watching her with concern clear in his eyes, his brow drawn in confusion.

Niall scoffed. “Your wife is in active labour,” he told Harry, ignoring the withering glare Piper sent his way, “and she’s more worried about her finger sandwiches than she is about her baby.”

“I’m not in active labour,” Piper insisted.

“Are you having contractions?” Harry asked, his hand reaching up to brush the hair back from her face, skimming over her damp forehead. She opened her mouth to deny it but there was a glimmer in Harry’s eyes that stopped the words from spilling out. She couldn’t lie to him.

“I might’ve been,” she said with a sigh and once the admission was out there, everything suddenly felt more real. There was a staggering weight on her chest and she sucked in a ragged breath as she felt tears brimming in her eyes. “I can’t be in labour,” she stuttered, shaking her head. “It’s too early. The baby’s not due for another month.”

“Hey, it’s okay,” Harry said gently, leaning in to press a lingering kiss to her sweaty forehead. When his arm curved around her shoulders, Piper sunk against him with a shudder, turning her face into his shoulder. “It’s going to be alright, Piper. Babies come early sometimes. That happens.”

“What if something is wrong,” she murmured into his shirt, sniffling to try and hold back the tears that wanted to burst free. “It’s too soon.”

“Pips, listen to me.” Piper felt Niall’s hand rest gently on her lower back and shuffled in Harry’s arms so she could see him. He was smiling reassuringly and he reached over to take each of her hands in his. “The baby is safely viable at this point, so it’s not in any immediate danger. But you’re in labour, Pips, and you can’t stay here. We need to get you to the hospital.”

She knew he was right and she gave one more mournful look at the food she’d spent days preparing before letting out a shuddering sigh and nodding. Niall blew out a sigh, glad that she wasn’t fighting him any longer, and switched almost immediately into medic mode.

“Let’s get you leaning over again,” Niall instructed, guiding Piper so she was leaning against her crossed arms against the counter. “Do your breathing, you remember right? Good,” he said when she nodded, “just keep calm and take deep breaths. I’m going to call ahead to the hospital so can you get the car, Harry?”

“Yeah,” Harry said breathlessly, sounding dazed. He was impeccably good at keeping his composure except when it came to her and the kids. She tilted her head on her arms so she could see him, snorting a laugh as she watched him run a haggard hand through his hair. He swallowed hard and looked down at her, letting out a laugh of his own. “Fuck, we’re having a baby.” His lips stretched into a wide grin, one that dimpled his cheeks and sent Piper’s heart fluttering. When he leaned in to capture her lips in a frantic kiss, she found herself smiling against his mouth, despite the situation. “We’re going to have a baby.”

“Not if you don’t get the car,” Niall muttered, on hold with the hospital on the phone already.

“Right, sorry. Car.” Harry stepped away and disappeared from sight, but then he was right back and leaning in for another kiss. He pulled back with a dopey smile on his face. “I love you,” he told her, sweeping his hand over her hair gently. “I love you so much.”

“Go,” Piper said on a laugh. He stumbled away, patting down his pockets for keys as he turned into the hall, going to retrieve the Range Rover which was parked out on the street to make room for their guests in the driveway. Once he was out of sight, Piper let her forehead drop down on her crossed arms. She could feel the stirrings of another contraction and pressed her lips to her arm to quell her groan.

“You’ve got this, Pips,” Niall coached, rubbing her lower back for her. “And just think, soon you’re going to have another beautiful baby to hold.”

Piper’s hands clenched into fists as the pain built, letting out a huff.

“Happy bloody Mother’s Day to me.”

****

A couple of hours later, there was another member of the Styles clan in the world.

A beautiful baby boy. Anne had been right all along.

After they’d gotten checked into the hospital, Piper’s labour had progressed much quicker than it had with either Sara or Violet. With Harry holding her hand and Niall coaching her through each contraction (and bossing around the obstetrician who had stepped in to do the delivery when Piper’s regular doctor hadn’t been able to come in time, insisting that he was doing everything wrong; Piper was surprised Niall hadn’t just shoved him out of the way and taken over), the birth wasn’t too difficult and Harry was being called to the bottom of the bed much sooner than she’d thought. Harry leaned his hand against her raised knee gently as he ducked a bit to get a view of their baby being born, his eyes flitting up to meet hers every so often. The sheer joy on his face was infectious and as Piper gave that last push, she was grinning too, falling back to the bed with a breathless laugh as she heard her son cry for the first time.

There were tears in her eyes as they placed her wriggling baby boy on her chest and told her that he looked healthy as could be.

“See? Ten fingers and ten toes,” Harry had murmured as he leaned in to press a gentle kiss to Piper’s temple, his eyes lingering on his newborn son. “Absolutely perfect. Nothing to worry about at all. He just wanted to meet his mum a little sooner than expected.”

They took him away to clean him up and Piper insisted that Harry go with him and keep an eye on their son, turning to Niall for the support she needed as she went through the process of the afterbirth and the stitching that followed. She was a practiced hand at this by now, this being her third baby, but she was still a bit surprised by how easily it had gone. She said as much to Niall as she leaned back in the bed, clutching his hand halfheartedly while the doctor finished up with everything.

“Once you’ve had a couple,” Niall explained with a shrug, “your body’s so used to it that they just sort of slide out.”

“Charming, Niall,” Piper grumbled, drawing her hand out of his so she could used it to give him a good smack.

She was surprised when he chuckled, grinning brilliantly at her. “I’m proud of you, Pips,” he told her, leaning forward so he could press a gentle kiss to her cheek.

Before he could pull back, she wrapped an arm around him and dragged him down into a hug. She pressed her mouth to his ear and murmured a quiet, “thank you.”

They both knew that this wouldn’t have gone this well without him, and for that, she’d be eternally grateful.

Piper dozed on and off once they’d cleaned her up and settled her in comfortably to recover. In the brief moments when she was awake, Niall would give her some ice chips to keep her hydrated, asking her a question or two and collecting her vitals so the nurses would have up to date information if they came in while she was sleeping.

By the time she woke up properly, the sky had darkened outside the window and her room was only dimly lit by a lamp beside her bed. She heard the click of the door and swivelled her head that direction, her lips pulling into a lazy grin when she saw the familiar silhouette of her husband, a tiny bundle cradled in his arms.

“Hi Harry,” she murmured. When he kept his eyes on the slumbering baby in his arms, taking slow steps toward the window, she cleared her throat and raised her voice a bit so he could hear her. “Harry, I’m awake.”

He startled a bit but not enough to wake up their son. He smiled when he saw her looking back at him, walking smoothly toward the bed. “Sorry, didn’t hear you the first time.”

“I figured,” Piper said, her eyes tracking him as he moved closer and perched on the edge of her bed beside her hip. Her gaze dropped down to her baby, a sleepy smile tugging at her lips. “How’s he doing?”

“Amazing,” Harry murmured quietly, looking down at his son with proud eyes. “Passed all his health checks perfectly. He’s probably going to want to eat once he’s awake again but for now he’s good. He’s a little tuckered out from all the activity.”

“Did you introduce him to everyone?” Piper asked, already reaching her arms out for him. Harry passed him over carefully, his large hands hovering under the baby until he was sure that he was resting safely against Piper’s chest. She tugged the blanket away from his face to get a better look at him because while it had only been a couple of hours since she’d seen him last, it was already too long. She wanted to look at those chubby cheeks and small pursed lips, those fluttering eyelashes and slightly wrinkled forehead, for as long as she possibly could.

“Yep, he met his whole family,” Harry told her, reaching over to run his fingers gently over the baby’s head like he couldn’t resist touching him. Piper understood that completely. “It was convenient that they were all in the waiting room already, that’s for sure.” Piper snickered, imagining their whole extended family squashed into the small waiting room of the maternity floor but it was sort of inevitable, given they were all over at the house when the baby decided he wanted to be born. “I waited to introduce him to Sara and Vi though,” Harry said, smiling fondly at Piper in that way that always gave her butterflies. “Thought you’d want to do that together.”

“Thank you,” Piper said, holding out the hand that wasn’t supporting their son to Harry. He took it right away, raising it up to his lips before twining their fingers together. “Can you believe it, Harry? We have a baby boy.”

“A perfect baby boy,” Harry agreed, his hand resting against the baby’s head gently. He leaned forward to place a delicate kiss on the top of the baby’s head, and Piper chuckled when the little guy scrunched up his face, letting out a huff. She sensed he was going to be a grumpy sleeper — a true Stone.

“When he wrinkles his nose like that,” Piper murmured, extracting her hand from Harry’s so she could run her finger gently over the baby’s nose and watch him scrunch it again, “he reminds me of my dad. He’s got my dad’s nose, I think.”

“Fitting,” Harry said softly. Piper glanced up, her brow drawing together when she saw the bright glint in her husband’s eyes.

“What d’you mean?”

“That he’d have your dad’s nose,” Harry told her, his thumb smoothing gently over his son’s head. “Since I introduced him to everyone as Jack.”

Piper sucked in a quick breath, her eyes glossing with tears almost instantly. Harry was smiling that fond smile of his, his bright green eyes looking a little wet as well. When Piper grappled for his hand with hers, he let her take it, squeezing gently when she crushed his fingers in hers.

“Harry,” she breathed out, pressing her lips shut when her voice shook. She tried to find the words but couldn’t, gripping tight to Harry’s hand instead.

“We talked about naming him after your dad,” Harry reminded her, and she nodded. “And I know you weren’t sure but the second the doctor put him into my arms and I looked down at him, I just knew he was Jack.”

Piper drew their joined hands together, pressing them down over her heart. Knowing that their baby boy would carry a piece of her dad with him as he grew up meant the world to her and the love she felt for Harry in that moment barely fit in her heart. She wanted to reach up and pull him into a fierce kiss, but didn’t want to risk jostling her baby boy.

Jack Styles.

It was absolutely and completely perfect.

“Welcome to the world, Jack,” Piper murmured into her son’s soft head, breathing in his baby smell. The tears were too much to contain and she felt them slipping down her cheeks.

Harry clicked his tongue gently, lifting his hand from Jack’s head to brush them away for her. When he leaned in, she tilted her head up earnestly. The gentle touch of Harry’s lips against hers stole the breath from her lungs and by the time he pulled back, she was crying all over again, revelling in how perfect this moment was. Her beautiful boy nuzzling against her collarbone; her incredible husband looking at her like she was the greatest thing he’d laid eyes on.

“Not quite the Mother’s Day present you were expecting,” Harry murmured with a gentle laugh, his eyes flickering inadvertently down to Jack and lingering there. He couldn’t seem to draw his gaze away and frankly, neither could Piper. She lifted a hand to run gently over his cheek, her lips tugging into a smile when Jack scrunched that perfect little nose of his once more, smacking his lips gently.

The dog stared at her for a long minute and then quirked his head playfully.

“Ugh, let’s go,” Piper said as she opened the back door, letting the dog jump down and circle around her feet twice before he ran off to explore the garage. She slammed the back door shut and hiked her bag up on her shoulder heading for the door into the house. “Come on, let’s go. Oi!” she called out when she saw the dog had his head stuck in a bag of potting soil. “Get out of there!”

She kept a foot out to hold the Jack Russell back as she opened the garage door, calling out a serious “heel” before she pulled it away. The dog took a couple of excited steps forward and then stopped himself, backing it right back up and repeating the pattern. It was as close to a proper ‘heel’ as he could get but it was better than what he’d been able to do earlier in the week when he and Piper had first met.

“Is that you, petal?” 

“It’s me,” Piper called out and, assuming that he’d been included in the greeting, the Jack Russell let out a single bark that said ‘I’m here!’

And just like that, the whole house descended into madness. The barks and scrambling footsteps of 6 dogs racing through the house nearly drowned out the loud music (Bowie, as it turned out which somehow didn’t surprise Piper at all, knowing Harry’s taste in music). Harry’s head craned around the doorway to the kitchen, a curious furrow in his brow. He let out a groan when he saw the little dog at her feet nearly shaking with his desire to go and play with the other dogs.

“Piper,” he said shortly as he stepped into the hall, “What did I say about the dogs? We can’t –” He was interrupted by the puppy brigade skidding into the hall, practically galloping toward the new friend standing at Piper’s side. Harry tried to sidestep the pack but ended up getting butted in the leg by all of them at least once and was nearly upended right onto his bum by the Great Dane who always forgot he was a big dog. He only just managed to right himself before he ended up sprawled on the floor and Piper grimaced apologetically when he pressed his lips together reproachfully.

But she didn’t have time to do much else because she was suddenly covered in dogs coming to greet her and she crouched so she could pet each of them. Bertie, the tamest of the group as the oldest and the unquestionable leader of them, bumped his nose against her cheek in greeting and then circled to sniff around their new friend.

“Guys, this is Baxter,” Piper introduced as she patted whichever dog pressed against her. Most of them had already started sniffing at Baxter who was stiller than she’d ever seen him as all these bigger dogs sniffed at him. “He’s going to be staying with us for a while.”

“No.” Piper glanced up, sighing when she saw that Harry was standing there with his arms crossed over his chest, a fierce scowl on his face. Piper gave Harry the best puppy dog eyes she could manage, pouting her lip out gently. Harry looked like he was going to give in for a second, unable to say no to the infamous Stone pout (the one all three of their kids had mastered by now), but he shook his head firmly instead. “No, Piper. We can’t bring in another dog.”

“But he’s just a little one,” Piper argued, plucking Baxter out of the puppy pile he’d been buried under and holding him up so his adorable little doggy face was pressed against her pouty face. “He’s so cute, Harry.”

“This is the fifth dog you’ve brought home this week!” Harry blew out a breath to calm himself and ran his hand through his hair. “This can’t continue, Piper. We’ve got more dogs than people now.”

There were seven altogether now – the Styles family dogs, Bertie and their Husky mix, Attie; plus the five dogs Piper had brought home from the shelter this week. Piper had to admit, it was a lot to handle. The cost of food alone was going to be exorbitant. She could understand why Harry was frustrated.

But he didn’t get it. He wasn’t at that shelter every day, watching these dogs being tossed aside because they weren’t the right breed to fight, being killed off because they wouldn’t make money. Piper couldn’t let that happen.

“Harry, please,” Piper said as she put Baxter back down, looking up at Harry pleadingly. “I know it’s a lot but it’s just until we can get them adopted. I just – I can’t just leave them there to die.”

Harry’s expression softened and he let out a gentle sigh, walking down the hall toward her. A couple of the dogs broke off to run around his feet and Harry reached down to pluck Attie off the ground and tuck the puppy under his arm as he knelt down in front of Piper. A reluctant smile slipped onto his face as he was surrounded by their dogs who all sniffed and licked at him lovingly. Underneath that burly exterior he sometimes tried to perpetuate he was a big marshmallow and he loved all of these dogs just as much as she did.

“I’m sorry,” he said to Piper. Her brow furrowed as she looked up, trying to figure out why. Harry’s mouth pressed into a tight line and he shook his head. “I know this mission has been really tough on you. I should be a little more sympathetic.”

It had started out as a simple favour she was doing for some friends at MI5 – they’d gotten wind of a dog fighting ring operating out of a shelter just outside of the city. Dogs that were rescued or donated were being selected for their fighting abilities and the discarded dogs were being euthanized, a gross violation of a number of protective laws. They needed someone who was really good with dogs to go undercover within the organization to collect evidence for the charges and Piper, having two well trained dogs of her own, was asked to step in.

She’d been fine at first, making the right connections within the shelter to get the information she needed, but on her fourth day, she’d finally been shown the basement. It was dark and dank, and smelled horrible, packed with tiny cages that held the dogs that weren’t selected for fighting. It had broken Piper’s heart, seeing all those poor dogs who had nothing wrong with them except the wrong temperament for fighting, or the wrong build. She couldn’t stand by and let them be killed for that so she’d started sneaking them home.

She was probably going to blow her cover soon, once they noticed dogs were going missing, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t live with herself if she didn’t try to do something.

Harry seemed to sense that too because he clicked his tongue gently and leaned in, wrapping his free hand around the nape of her neck and dragging her forward so he could kiss her. It was soft and sweet, and Piper sighed against his mouth.

It would have been a perfect moment if Attie hadn’t propped herself up on Harry’s chest and licked right up the side of Piper’s face.

She pulled back with a laugh, reaching over to grab Attie from Harry and hold the Husky puppy up to her face so they were nose to nose. “Excuse me, miss,” she mumbled to the dog, who stuck her little tongue out and licked Piper’s nose delicately. “Do you mind? We were having a nice moment.”

Harry had the audacity to laugh but he was quickly trampled down by the Great Dane, Rocky, and attacked with kisses. His chuckles turned into exasperated cackles as he tried and failed to push Rocky off, which just encouraged the other dogs to join in on the fun. Piper set Attie down beside her so she could pull out her phone and snap a couple of photos to use as blackmail later.

“Mummy?”

Piper looked up, a grin stretching onto her face when she saw Violet standing at the far end of the hall. She was wearing a pair of fairy wings and a tiara on her head, and had a bashful little blush on her cheeks as she watched her father getting mauled by puppies, his shrieking laughs echoing down the hall.

“Hello my darling,” Piper greeted warmly, waving Violet over. She’d always been the quiet one of the lot but also the most curious, and she eyed Harry suspiciously as she took small steps down the hall. “They’re just playing,” Piper assured her when she caught Violet’s lips twisting nervously. “Come on, I brought a new friend home. Come say hello.”

Violet perked right up, her socked feet slipping on the hardwood as she raced down the hallway toward the puppy pile. She dove right into Piper’s arms, wrapping her own small arms tightly around Piper’s shoulders. Her breath was hot against Piper’s ear as she leaned in and whispered, “I love you, mummy.”

Piper couldn’t help her beaming smile and just pulled Violet in tight. “Love you too, flower. Did you have fun at daycare today? That’s certainly quite the costume you’ve got there.”

Before Violet could answer, there was two sets of pounding footsteps on the floor and their two other children appeared in the hall. Sara was still in her football kit from her kid’s club practice earlier in the afternoon, her hair falling out of its ponytail so she had wispy strands of red hair falling in her face. She was holding onto Jack’s hand, her little brother looking up at her with wide eyes as if waiting for directions. When he caught sight of Piper at the end of the hall, he broke away from Sara and took off at a run. “Mummy!”

Piper just managed to catch her toddler as he flung himself at her, letting him sit on her other leg and sharing her lap with Violet. He curled up against her, letting out a sigh as he tucked his head against her shoulder. Piper guessed he’d skipped his nap today and desperately needed one. She caught Harry’s eye as he managed to pull himself up off the floor, shaking off the dogs who tried to cling on. When she nodded toward the dozy boy leaning against her, Harry just sighed and shook his head. So, it was going to be one of those nights tonight. Jack would be snoozing over his dinner and up past midnight, if experience was anything to go by.

“Mummy, mummy,” Sara called out, catching Piper’s attention as she plopped onto her knees beside Harry. She blew at the hair that had fallen in her face, her eyes lighting up as she looked at the dogs all around them. “Did you bring another one?”

“This is Baxter,” Harry told their daughter, gently pushing the Jack Russell in her direction. Sara sucked in a gasp almost right away, cooing about how cute he was as she pulled him close. She giggled as Baxter licked under her chin excitedly.

“Can he sleep in my room?” Violet mumbled, watching Sara being kissed by the little dog with a frown on her face. Piper gave her back a rub, trying not to coo over how cute Violet’s little jealous face was. It probably wasn’t the sort of thing she should be encouraging.

“No, he’s going to sleep in my room,” Sara said firmly, trying to exert her older sister authority.

“No, me,” Jack chimed in though he did it sleepily and Piper suspected he didn’t know what he was actually fighting for.

“I’m oldest, I –” Sara had to stop to spit a piece of hair out of her mouth and Harry sighed, shuffling over so he could yank out her ponytail and make it again, sweeping the hair out of Sara’s face. “I get to choose where he sleeps.”

“Actually, I’m the oldest,” Harry corrected, “so I guess I get to choose where he sleeps.” All the kids immediately began pleading their cases, their voices raising over one another, but Harry just talked right over them as he tightened Sara’s ponytail. “And all the dogs are going to sleep in their own beds tonight.”

Piper scoffed, rolling her eyes. He said that every night and then every night, one of the dogs ended up in all the kids beds, the rest crowding into Piper and Harry’s room. Bertie was the only dog who actually did what he was supposed to but that was because his doggy bed was in Piper and Harry’s room already, while the others were all in the family room downstairs.

Harry levelled her with a disparaging look and Piper just shrugged, smiling sweetly at Harry until he was forced to smile too. 

“We’ll let the dogs choose, how about that,” Piper offered as a compromise. That’s usually how it ended up going anyway. “What do you say, Attie?” Piper asked their husky. “Does that sound good?”

Attie must’ve taken Piper saying her name as an invitation because she leapt into Piper’s lap and place her little paws on Piper’s collerbone so she could lick Piper’s face. Piper laughed, turning her face away so she didn’t end up with a dog tongue in her mouth, and she promptly lost her balance trying to squirm away, falling onto her back. The kids squealed as they went down, laughing brightly as they watched their mum being licked to death by a puppy standing on her chest, and then suddenly all the dogs were on them, flopping over Piper and the kids. Piper felt Sara pushing her way into the pile, giggling as she was immediately smothered by Bertie who flopped across her tummy. She scratched at the older dog’s head as she curled up against her sister’s side.

Piper sucked in a gasp, her ribs hurting from laughing so hard, and popped her eyes open to find Harry standing over them, his phone out. He was grinning toothily at his family, those delectable dimples of his pressing into his cheeks and Piper felt herself smiling in response because damn, she loved that gorgeous grin of his and she still couldn’t believe sometimes that she was married to this handsome, brilliant, kind man.

And then she realized just what he was doing when the shutter clicked on his phone.

“Don’t you dare,” she growled though it shifted into a laugh as the french bulldog snuffled at her neck. “Harry, no! No pictures!”

“Call it payback,” he told her. Apparently she hadn’t been as sneaky as she thought earlier when she’d snapped those pictures of him. “Come on, kiddos, give us a smile.”

Their children all looked up with beaming grins – some of the dogs looked up too – and Piper was forced to grin when she felt Bertie nudge her side, as if to say let’s go Pips you’ve got to get in on the fun.

Harry decided he was going to kill Niall – not only for leaving Piper to get drunk on her own in a seedy bar down the street from Vauxhall Cross but for not giving him at least a little bit of warning when he texted Harry right after he landed at Heathrow to come and pick Piper up, claiming he had an emergency at work. Although, Niall had said she was only tipsy when he left. It seemed Piper had to shoulder some of the blame for her inebriation and her subsequent loose lips.

Which only seemed to be getting worse. She was leaning across the bar now, getting right up in the bartender’s face as he watched her with a mix of amusement and annoyance. 

“I’ve killed a man before in cold blood,” she was saying, narrowing her eyes at the bartender threateningly. Harry rolled his eyes because that was not true. One Direction were classed as black ops agents, not assassins (at least, not often). If Piper had killed anyone it was purely by accident. “Snapping necks and cashing checks is what I do.”

The bartender quirked a brow at Piper when she reached into her wallet to look for her SIS ID and Harry determined that he needed to get involved quickly before this turned from funny to potentially career-ending.

He stepped up behind Piper, touching her shoulder gently to catch her attention. She had her elbows propped on the bar, standing with her toes on the rung of her stool so she was practically hanging over the bar, but she craned her head around at the tap on her shoulder. Her brow was furrowed, her lips pouted, but her face lit up almost immediately when she saw it was Harry standing behind her and she practically flung herself at him. He had to hurry to catch her as her barstool wobbled beneath her, his arms wrapping around her waist to steady her as he lowered her back into her seat.

“You’re here!” she cried excitedly as she threw her arms around his neck, pulling him close so she could press a sloppy kiss to his cheek. “I missed you.” 

“Missed you too,” Harry murmured into Piper’s ear, dotting a kiss down onto her temple before pulling back and levelling her with a reproachful look. “Now what kind of trouble have you been getting up to while I’ve been gone?”

A sneaky smile flicked across her face but was quickly replaced with a scowl as she snapped her head in the direction of the bartender. “Harry, this man doesn’t believe that I’m a spy. You need to tell him.”

Harry smiled sheepishly at the bartender, who just shrugged as if this wasn’t the strangest thing he’d heard before. He must’ve gotten some pretty interesting characters in the bar if Piper wasn’t winning a prize for her performance tonight.

The bartender nodded toward Piper who was frowning down at Harry’s shirt, playing with the top buttons like she was tempted to undo them right there in the bar. “Is she yours?” he asked.

Piper bristled almost immediately, letting out a frustrated huff. “I am no man’s,” she said vehemently as she jabbed an admonishing finger at the bartender. “I am my own woman and I belong only to myself.”

The bartender’s eyes widened at the force behind Piper’s voice and the practically murderous look in her eyes. He looked like he was more inclined to believe her about her killing people for a living now, judging by the way he was slowly backing up.

“Alright, I think he gets it petal,” Harry jumped in, grasping Piper by the elbows and dragging her off the barstool while she kept her icy stare steady on the bartender, practically snarling at him. “Now I think it’s time we go home.”

Piper went reluctantly, muttering about how the bartender was probably a double agent and that they should tie him up and ask him. Harry could tell he had a fun night ahead of him.

“You know, you should be a little less handsy,” Piper told him when they were halfway out of the bar even though she was the one hanging off of him, her arms wrapped securely around his shoulders. “My boyfriend wouldn’t like it.”

“Oh Jesus Christ,” Harry muttered, rolling his eyes up to the ceiling and praying for patience.

“He could beat you to a pulp,” she said, popping the p right in his ear. “I bet he could kill you with just his thumb. Actually, he sort of looks like you.” She tilted her head, squinting up at him as her lips pursed into a judgemental scowl. “Are you his evil twin?”

“Okay,” Harry grunted as he was forced to bend down, sticking his shoulder under Piper’s arm before she sagged right to the ground, “that’s the last time you’re allowed to drink tequila unsupervised.” 

“You smell very nice,” Piper informed him as Harry dragged her back up, plucking her arm up and draping it over his shoulders. She leaned in close and stuck her face in his neck, breathing in deep. “You’re Harry,” she said quite confidently, smiling up at him.

“I am.”

Her whole face softened and she let out a contented sigh, leaning against him. “I love you.”

Harry chuckled as he tilted his head down, pressing a kiss to Piper’s warm forehead that made her giggle. “Love you too, petal. But you smell like tequila and I’m pretty sure you’re about to pass out on me so let’s get you to the car.”

He’d been right about that; they didn’t even get halfway to the car before Piper’s eyes started to droop, her feet stumbling beneath her. She nearly ended up right on the ground when she tripped over her own feet and Harry gave up on letting her walk, hauling her up and over his shoulder instead. She let out a whine and tried to protest but gave up quickly, hanging limply within a minute or so.

“I know how to use a gun,” she murmured into the small of his back.

“I know you do, petal.”

“I’m a real spy.”

“Yes, you are.”

“I don’t really like tequila,” she groaned. “Makes everything all fuzzy and spinny.”

“Are you going to throw up?” Harry asked because he knew Piper well enough by now and he’d held her hair back too many times to be fooled.

“No,” Piper insisted, her voice outraged as if the mere question offended her. Harry just rolled his eyes, hoping they made it back to the car before she was tempted to puke right down his back.

Sure enough, the moment he set her down beside the Aston Martin, Piper leaned over and emptied her stomach with a cough. Harry rubbed her back gently as she choked up the last bits, passing her a tissue from his glove compartment so she could wipe her mouth with it. He’d picked up a tea on the way from the airport and he offered it to Piper once he’d helped to belt her into the passenger seat. She gave him a sheepish grimace and accepted the lukewarm cup.

She was sick again when they got back to HQ except she’d shifted into the stage of tequila drunk where she got a bit weepy and she kept apologizing to Harry in between bouts with her head in the toilet. He just sat beside her, murmuring words of encouragement as he rubbed between her shoulder blades. When Piper fell asleep against the toilet, Harry cleaned her up and stripped her down, carrying her back into the bedroom to tuck her under the covers. He made a point of closing the drapes before he crawled in beside her, knowing that tomorrow morning was going to be a rough one if Piper woke up with the sun.

She may have smelled like booze still, her makeup smudged on her face and her hair tussled up so it fell in her eyes, but it still felt so good to get into bed beside Piper, to lie back and feel her instinctively roll toward him and sprawl across him. Harry tucked his shoulder under her neck to prop her head on his chest, his arm curving down her back so his hand was pressed possessively to the small of her back. When Piper sighed contentedly in her sleep, Harry did the same. With the love of his life curled against him, he fell asleep easier than he had all week.

He woke the next morning to Piper shuffling around, a pained groan slipping from between her lips as she tucked her face into Harry’s shoulder. He rubbed her back gently as he came awake, smiling gently at her when she looked up blearily.

“Fuck,” she muttered to herself as she smacked her lips, cringing at the taste in her mouth, “did I drink last night?”

“You did indeed,” Harry told her, his cheeks dimpling under his amused grin. She just groaned again, pressing her face into his tshirt. 

“Did I tell the bartender I snap necks for a living?”

“Yep, you did that too.”

“Oh fuck me,” she moaned. She tilted her head up, grimacing apologetically as she smoothed her hand over Harry’s abdomen gently. “I’m so sorry. I bet the last thing you wanted after a mission was dealing with my sorry drunk arse.”

Harry reached across to let his hand rest against her right bum cheek, giving it a squeeze. “Love this arse,” he murmured, “even when it’s sorry and drunk.”

Piper leaned over and bit at the exposed skin over the collar of his shirt teasingly. She pressed a kiss down in the same spot a second later to soothe the mark, and then tucked her cheek down there, her hand sliding down and over his side so her arm draped over him.

“Missed you,” she said softly as her eyes began to drift shut again. “Missed my hangover pillow,” she murmured into his chest as she nosed at his skin, breathing him in. “Missed my morning cuddles.”

“Me too.”

“Can we sleep some more?” she asked drowsily. Before Harry had a chance to answer, she’d drifted back to sleep.