“She will, honey.” Calum reassures you, taking your hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze before lifting them to his lips and brushing a kiss to your knuckles. “She’s a baby, she doesn’t hate anyone. Apart from Michael when he takes her pacifier away from her and doesn’t let her nap past 3pm.”

“Terrible twos, huh?” You ask, knowing those were just two examples do some of the things Michael and his partner have had to deal with.

“If you’re lucky, you might get to experience that today too.” He chuckles, finding it sweet how nervous you are to meet Harper. She’s so important to him, and he knows how desperate you are for her to like you. He isn’t nervous, though. He knows she’ll love you just like he does. “Don’t worry, baby. It’s going to be fine.”

***

“Shall we see who’s here, Harper? Who is it?”

An excited squeal instantly leaves her lips as she notices Calum’s car pull up in the drive, the familiar vehicle one that makes her happy since it means her favourite uncle is coming to visit.

“Remember, we have an extra guest visiting today.” Michael’s partner reminds her, brushing her blonde tufts of hair out of her face. Michael was a little nervous, knowing how upset she and Calum would be if Harper didn’t warm up to you. You’ve met Michael plenty of times, and he feels like you and Calum are solid enough for Harper to meet you now too. “You’re not gonna go all shy on Uncle Cal, are you?”

“Unca Cal!” She charges towards the front door as Michael opens it, so she can stand with him to see Calum coming towards the house. Her excitement and confidence soon falters as she spots you jump out of the car too, your hand linked with Calum’s as you approach her. It’s almost as if in that moment she remembers that he has a guest joining him, and she’s unsure about it. “Dad, up please.”

“It’s okay, bubba.” Michael picks her up and sits her on his hip, lips brushing over her forehead to calm her down. He knows it’ll take her a little while to warm up to you. “Uncle Cal is here to see you, and his friend too.”

“Hi, sweetheart! How’s my favourite girl?” Calum calls out, stepping through the front door to where she’s hiding in her dad’s arms. She’d usually give him a bigger welcome, running up to him or clinging onto him until he cuddled her. Not today, though. “Where’s my hug, huh? You’re not going shy on me, are you? I have someone to introduce to you.”

She pushes her face against Michael’s neck, hiding as if it makes her invisible — in her mind, if she can’t see you, you can’t see her either. Michael chuckles and rubs her back reassuringly, murmuring a “it’s okay, baby” trying to coax her away from hiding from you and Calum.

“Can you say hi, baby? This is my friend,” Calum tells her, gently tapping her shoulder to get her attention before introducing you to her. “We have something for you.”

“Hi, Harper. I have a present for you,” You tell her, speaking gently in the hopes of catching her attention. You hold the little stuffed lion out in front of you, so she could see it if she decided to stop hiding against Michael’s neck. “I heard you like animals, so I thought you’d like this.”

Michael shifts her in his arms a little in the hopes of her looking at you, his hand reassuringly rubbing circles in her back as you stand there. “Look, baby, what is it? That’s so kind.”

She dares to peek out from his shoulder and her eyes light up at the sight, flickering between you and the lion in your hand. She smiles softly and reaches out for it, wrapping her small hand around the middle and pulling it into her arms. Michael smiles at her reaction, murmuring a “what do you say, baby?”

“Thank you,” She murmurs, rubbing her cheek against the fluffy material in her grasp.

“Now do I get my hug?” Calum asks, holding his arms out for her. She nods and reaches out to him, letting him take her in his arms and cuddle her. “That’s better. What are we playing this week?”

You follow them into the lounge, watching as Harper tips one of her toy boxes upside down, so Calum can find something to play with. She seems cautious of you — she looks over at you occasionally, mainly staying close to Calum — but the lion you gave her moments ago stays in her grasp. She sets up her zoo, apparently her favourite — placing the small toy figurines in each area to set it up. Calum wasn’t lying — she does have an extensive animal collection.

She stands still for a moment, hand clinging to Calum’s shoulder. She looks at you, and down at the zebra in her hand, like she’s thinking about asking you to play. Calum notices too, his hand coming up to land on her back to reassure her.

“For you,” She murmurs, walking over towards you and dropping it in your hand. Calum can’t help but smile, watching two of his favourite people interact.

“That’s for me?! Thank you so much, Harper!” You reply, a blush spreading over her rosy cheeks at your praise, before she moves back to sit in Calum’s lap. You move to sit a little closer, Calum sending you a knowing smile as Harper starts to play with her toys.

You stay and play for a few more hours, before Michael declares dinner time, and you and Calum decide to leave them to it.

“Bye bye, Harper. It was so nice to meet you.” You lean down to her level to say goodbye, and much to your surprise, she runs forward and wraps her arms around your shoulders in a little hug. Your heart melts as she cuddle you goodbye, and you wrap your arms around her too. “You’re so sweet, thank you for the hug.”

“Love you, sweetheart. See you soon, okay?” Calum kisses her cheek and picks her up, hugging her until Michael reaches out for her so they can wave good bye. She says a soft, “bye bye, unca cal” before sitting on Michael’s hip to wave you off.

As you drive away from Michael’s house, both with content smiles on your face — Calum can’t help but say I told you so.

“See, I told you she would love you.”

***

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           The two girls Calum loved most in his life were his sister, Mali-Koa, and his Mum. His entire life, those were the two women who kept him grounded and made sure he’d always kept his head on straight when making any kind of decision.

Everything changed the day that Callie was born. At six pounds, seven ounces, his niece was the one girl he’d make sure he’d never disappoint, never hurt, and would always be there for.

Calum, being Calum, had rarely held newborns in the past, but his face lit up when his sister handed him his niece.

“What’s her name?” Calum asked his sister, his eyes never leaving the newborn baby in his arms.

“Callie Joy.” Mali smiles, looking down at his daughter.

“Callie, as in…” His eyes were beginning to tear up.

“As in Calum, yes.” Mali states. “Joy is named after Mum.”

Calum didn’t know what to think. He’d always heard jokes about his sister naming her future children after him, but he didn’t think she was one hundred percent serious. It was touching, that his sister would even consider naming her children after her brother, but the fact that she actually did it, makes his heart even happier.

“Callie Joy. A beautiful name for a beautiful girl.” Calum smiles, looking down at the baby in his arms.

“She looks like Rob,” Mali chuckles. “I carried her for nine months for her to look like her father.”

“I think she looks just like you.” Calum says, his eyes trained on the little girl in his arms. “Spitting image, really.”

“You’re just flattering me.” Mali chuckles.

Callie begins to cry in Calum’s arms, and he immediately looks up at his sister for help.

“I think I broke her.” Calum says. “Mali I broke your baby.”

“No, she probably needs a diaper change or is hungry.” Mali giggles, taking the baby from her brothers arms.

Mali uncovers her daughter and checks her diaper, but realises she’s just hungry and ends up leaning back to feed her.

Calum turns away to give his sister a bit of privacy as she feeds her daughter.

“You can still look at me you know. I know you’ve seen a boob before.” Mali chuckles. “It’s also not like I’m trying to flash you.”

“It’s just weird. Seeing you be a mum and all that.” Calum says, looking at his sister.

Mali’s looking down at Callie and rubbing the side of her head, gently singing to her as she feeds.

Calum takes in the moment; his sister is actually a mum of her own. It’s not just Mali-Koa and Calum anymore, now it’s Mali-Koa, her daughter, Callie, and Calum.

“I think I’m going to head home.” Calum states. “I’ll swing by tomorrow?”

Mali looks up and smiles at her brother. “Yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow. I love you.”

9 months later

9 months ago was the best day of Calum’s life.

Tonight?

The worst.

He’d taken Callie for the night so Mali could finally get a full nights rest for the first time since Callie was born.

Sure, baby sitting and having Callie all day was fun. But Calum got to give her back and have her parents take care of her all night.

Just having gotten off tour, Calum missed his niece dearly.

Of course, he’d gotten the daily FaceTime calls from Mali about Duke, and every other FaceTime, he’d see his niece, who instead of looking like her parents, looked exactly like him.

Now that he’s back, he was determined to spend as much time with Callie as much as possible.

For the first few hours, Callie and Calum were good. They watched Moana, Callie drank her bottle, and the two of them fell asleep, snuggled in blankets, together on the couch, while Trolls played in the background. Everything was seemingly fine until Callie started crying.

Immediately, Calum’s eyes shot wide open and he sat up, holding the baby to his chest as he did so, so she wouldn’t fall.

He checks her diaper and changes it, and then warms up one of the bottles from the fridge and tries feeding his niece, but she refuses the bottle.

“Oh please, Lil Cal, stop crying. It’s okay.” Calum assures, rocking the baby in his arms.

Callie won’t stop crying, and he does everything he can to try and calm her down.

He grabs the guitar and starts strumming a short tune. He tries feeding her. Tries wrapping her up in a blanket and laying him down on his chest. He tries putting her in her car seat and rocking her back and forth, but even that doesn’t work.

As a last resort, he calls you.

You and Calum aren’t really close, nor have you even known him for that long.

In fact, you’d only ever hung out with him twice, and the first time was because he brought you home from the club. But he knew that you worked at a daycare, and that was enough of an excuse to call you up.

“Hello?” You answer. Your voice is groggy, and you’re shocked you’ve been woken up at two in the morning by someone you hardly know.

“Hey, it’s Calum.” Calum says. He looks around the room. “Um, I kind of need your help.”

“Calum, it’s two in the morning. I’m not coming over so you can fu–” you begin.

“It’s not that.” Calum cuts you off quickly. “I have my niece tonight and I can’t get her to stop crying. It’s Mali’s first night of being alone without the baby and I don’t want to wake her up.”

You’ve never heard Calum sound so desperate, it almost makes your heart break. You can hear the baby in the background, and you look around the room, looking for an excuse not to go.

“Calum… I don’t think…”

“Please. I’ll do anything. I just don’t know what to do when it comes to babies.”

You sigh and move the blankets from your legs. “I’ll be over there in ten. Leave the door unlocked.”

“Sure thing.”

Ten minutes later, you find yourself pulling up to Calum’s house and walking through the front door. His house looks normal, but the faint cry of a baby makes its way through the house. You sigh and follow the cries to Calum’s room, where he’s sitting on the bed with his dog, Duke, and a baby in his arms.

“You’re here!” He cries, a brief look of relief splashing across his face. “Thank you for coming, I really appreciate it.”

You nod and smile, looking at the boy and the baby in front of you. “Let me see her.”

Calum easily hands you his niece and you hold her to your chest for a few minutes, but she doesn’t stop crying.

“Hey, baby girl, what’s wrong? What’s got you frazzled?” You say, looking at the small baby in front of you.

If you didn’t know any better, you’d say she was Calum’s daughter just by the looks of it.

Callie keeps crying in response, but her cries are no longer screams, just soft cries in response to your voice.

“You know, you’re giving your uncle here a scare. Between you and me, I just think he’s afraid he might accidentally hurt you.” You say, unbuttoning her outfit. “Oh no, Miss Callie!” You say, looking down at her diaper. “That looks a little full, doesn’t it!”

Calum hands you a diaper, and you begin to change her.

“Her diaper was fine a few minutes ago…” Calum mumbles.

You give him a sympathetic smile before turning back to look at the baby laying between your legs.

“Here, I bet that’s all better.” You say, wiping her clean and changing her diaper. “I bet you’re hungry after all that crying too.”

You hand Callie back to Calum and stand up before walking to the kitchen to grab a bottle from the fridge. You warm it up and head back into Calum’s room, handing the bottle to him.

Calum sticks the bottle in Callie’s mouth and looks at you. “Thank you for coming. I wasn’t sure I would’ve been able to handle her cries for much longer.”

“It was just a dirty diaper, it’s no big deal.” You mumble.

“I changed her diaper when she first started crying. She just hasn’t stopped til you came over.” Calum admits.

You look at him – he’s wearing sweats and is shirtless, and he’s holding Callie close to his chest as he’s feeding her the bottle.

“What can I say, I’m the baby whisperer.” You giggle, looking at him. “I think I’m going to go now, I’ve got work in the morning. I pass on the baby whisperer dust to you.”

“Thank you again, (y/n),” Calum states. “I really appreciate you coming to help me. I owe you one.”

“Hey, I’m here to help. Goodnight Calum.” You say, walking out the door.

Calum sighs once he hears the front door shut behind you and looks down at his niece.

“Well, Callie Joy, it’s just you and me for the rest of the night. I promise I’ll be better.”

The nine month old opens her eyes for a slight second to look at her uncle, causing him to smile.

“Michael is gonna kill us.” Calum warns you, thinking of any excuse he could come up with as to why she was asleep. You and Calum have only been together for around eight months — he had only recently introduced you to Harper, not wanting to confuse her if you weren’t in it for the long haul. Calum and Harper are very close — it’s clear that Calum worships her, and they have a strong bond. It definitely felt like a big step forward when Michael decided it was time for you to meet her. “We have about ten minutes for her to wake up before we’re never allowed to babysit again.”

Ten minutes later, Calum pulls up to Michael’s drive, Harper’s quiet snores still occupying the space as she snoozed. Michael notices the car straight away — opening the front door and letting Moose and South run up to the car to greet you all.

“Where’s my favourite girl?” Michael calls out, expecting Harper to jump out of the car and run towards him, like she usually does. Moose jumps up at Calum’s legs as he opens the back door to the car, so he can get Harper out.

“Hi, sleepy head.” Calum murmurs to her, brushing her fair hair out of her face as she realises where they are. She doesn’t quite wake up, but let’s Calum pick her up and clings to him like a sloth as he holds her. She wraps her arms around his neck, her face hiding against his shoulder as he closes the door behind him. “Wakey wakey.”

“Please tell me she isn’t asleep.” Michael spots Harper curled up in Calum’s arms, a tell tale sign that she had been napping on the drive over. Michael had been making her dinner, knowing she would be home soon — although now he knows he’s going to have a grumpy three year old on his hands. “It’s definitely not nap time.”

“She isn’t anymore.” Calum looks at Harper’s sleepy face — cheeks flushed and warm from sleep, a hand lifting to rub her eyes as she came around a little more. Michael groans and rolls his eyes, yet he can’t help but smile at the sight of her in Calum’s arms. “Before you say anything else... it was only ten minutes.”

“Yeah, well, sometimes ten minutes is all it takes.” Michael holds his arms out towards Calum, gesturing for him to hand Harper over to her. His heart melts as Harper spots him — a smile growing on her face as she cuddles into him. “Hi, sweetheart. Did you have a fun day? Are you ready for some dinner?”

“We took Duke to the park,” She sleepily mumbles, a yawn slipping from her lips as she recounts the fun day she had spent with you and Calum. “And we had ice cream.”

“Ice cream? Not only have you had a late nap, but sugar too? You did have a fun day, didn’t you?” Michael rubs her back as he carries her into the house, you and Calum following behind them. Calum’s bashful expression doesn’t fade as he listens to Michael talk. “I’m glad you had fun, baby.”

Michael tries not to be the bad guy. He doesn’t want to make you and Calum feel guilty for treating Harper, especially when he knows how much she loves spending time with you. She always comes back from your days out in such a good mood, happily telling him all about what you got up to.

“Can I have a cuddle before we go, Harper?” Calum asks, kneeling down and holding his arms out to her before you head home. Michael kisses her forehead and sets her down on the ground, waiting until she was steady on her feet before she runs towards him. She wraps her arms around his neck in a sweet hug, giggling when Calum picks her up. “Thanks for such a fun day, bubs. We’ll see you soon, okay?”

“Bye, Uncle Cal.” She says, resting her head on his shoulder as he holds her. “Can we go to the park again soon?”

“Of course, whenever you want!” Calum reassures her, more than happy to take care of her whenever she wanted to spend the day with you.

“Bye, angel.” You place a hand on her back in Calum’s arms, waving goodbye before she holds her arms out for you, so you can hug her too. “I get a hug too?! That’s so sweet Harper.”

“Bye bye.” Harper waves from her spot on Michael’s hip as they stand in the door way, saying goodbye whilst you and Calum get back in the car.

“I’ll be calling you in the middle of the night when she won’t sleep.” Michael explains, knowing he’s got his work cut out for the next few hours. He wouldn’t have it any other way, though. “Thanks guys.”

A few hours later, you’re tucked up with Calum on the sofa, each with a glass of wine in your hand — Duke cuddled up next to Calum as you watch a movie.

“See, this is the best part about being the fun relatives,” Calum starts, taking a sip of his drink before continuing. He can already feel the tiredness setting into his bones, behind his eyes, from running around after Harper all day. He has no plans to move for the rest of the evening. “Michael is probably battling with Harper to get her to go to bed right now. We just get to do the easy parts.”

“You’re right,” You chuckle, turning your face to kiss his cheek. Children wasn’t something the two of you had really discussed yet, but no matter what happened in the future — you would always have the guys’ sweet children to dote on. “Sounds perfect to me.”

***

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But one night, she had a bad dream, and in her distressed state, just needed comfort from anyone that she could get it from. She knew yours and Luke’s bunk was closest to the ground, so she could climb up, but had forgotten that her uncle Calum’s bunk was also on the bottom too. With her comfort bear in tow, she toddled on wobbly feet from her own little bed to the bunks, sniffling and wiping her tears from her soft cheeks. She climbed up into the bunk closest to her, expecting to find her mum and dad there, but instead, she was met with her blue haired uncle.

Calum, who had been fast asleep, wasn’t expecting his curly haired niece to climb up into his bunk. He didn’t mind - of course he didn’t, but he worried if she was okay, since this was out of the ordinary.

“Hey, sweetheart, what are you doing here?” He asked softly, in his deep sleep ladened voice. His heart broke at the sight of her trying to get into his bunk, her arms reaching out towards him as she cried quietly. He wondered how his band mate could cope with her crying ever, when she looked so sad. He held his own arms out straight away, helping her up into his bed. “Shh, hey, it’s okay, Willow. You can stay here with Uncle Cal.”

Even though she hadn’t expected to be in his bunk, she was perfectly content with the warm cuddles from her uncle. She laid against his chest, her small hand resting on the feather tattoo on his chest. A warm hand rubbed up and down her back, trying to soothe her tears. “It’s okay, sweetie.”

She eventually fell asleep against him and Calum rearranged the two of them, laying back down in his bunk and letting her snuggle up to his side, under his arm, making sure she was on the wall side of the bed so she couldn’t fall out. He kissed her soft forehead before pulling the duvet over the two of them, content that she had managed to fall asleep again.

It wasn’t until morning when the bus started to come to life, that Luke panicked a little, when he didn’t find Willow fast asleep in her bed. He quickly glanced around the other sofas, making sure she hadn’t just gotten up and slept somewhere else, as out of character that would’ve been.

“Babe? Do you know where Willow is?” He asked you, the concern in his voice suddenly waking you up much more.

“Luke, I’ve been asleep here with you all night. What do you mean, where is she?” You replied, climbing out of bed to help find her, knowing there was no way she could have gone far.

Moments later, the two of you heard a sleepy “in here” and Luke pulled back the curtain to Calum’s bunk, finding Willow fast asleep on his chest still. Calum was still half asleep, the commotion of you and Luke trying to locate your daughter waking him up. Calum’s heart melted at the sight, her little sleepy body still cuddled up to him, peacefully sleeping.

“What is she doing in there?” Luke asked, a confused but relieved smile on his face at the sight of her content against his body.

“I don’t know, she just climbed up in the middle of the night. She was crying a little, but she fell asleep pretty quickly.” Calum explained, as you pulled out your phone to take a quick picture at the soft sight in front of you.

“Well, thanks for taking care of her.” You thanked him, as the three of you watched her rub her eyes, and stretch in her sleep.

“No problem, guys.” Calum replied tiredly, yawning as he spoke. “Now let us go back to sleep.”

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