Connor's visit left Louis jumpy for the rest of the morning and early afternoon, so much that he wanted to call Harry and tell him about it. But he knew his husband was very busy at work (he had actually come home late all week) and he didn't want to disturb him, so he decided to just wait until he got home later that  day.

What he did do, was call the office of the lawyer that had helped with Harry's adoption of Tori, and he made an appointment for the following week, as he wanted the lawyer to assure them that Connor's words were just empty threats, and that he could do nothing.

But even after that, he kept checking out the window, to make sure Connor hadn't come back, and it reached the point that when the time Tori left school approached, he decided to go pick her up, just in case Connor had decided to stay in town and was lurking around.

Louis had made sure to take a good look at his car, though, and if he saw it anywhere near his house or Tori's school, he was going to call the police, it was as simple as that.

So he got the twins in their car seats in the car, and then drove to the school, and as he waited for Tori to come outside, he looked around to make sure that Connor's car wasn't there, and thankfully it wasn't.

He had texted Tori saying he was coming to pick her up, but he wasn't sure if she had seen it, so he kept his eyes on the entrance of the school so he could see her come outside.

When he finally saw her walk out of the door, he noticed she was walking next to a boy, and she was talking animatedly to him as she twirled her blonde hair with her finger.

He had never seen her act like that.

Was she flirting with him?

It certainly looked like she was, and the boy seemed very interested in whatever Tori was saying.

But who was that boy?

He looked familiar somehow.

He suddenly saw Tori look at her phone, and then she looked around, and when she looked in the direction of Louis' car, he waved at her, and she saw him, because she turned to the boy, probably to say goodbye, and then walked to the car.

"Hey, Mum" Tori said as she got in the passengers seat.

"Hi, baby girl" Louis replied "How was your day?".

"Fine" Tori shrugged as she put on her seatbelt "Why did you come pick me up?"

"I took the twins out for a drive to get them to sleep, and decided to get my first baby too" Louis explained, or more like lied, because he wasn't sure if he should tell Tori about Connor's visit.

Tori looked at the back of the car, and even though the car seats were rear facing, they had those car seat mirrors to be able to see the babies.

"They're both asleep" Tori pointed out.

"It's the car effect" Louis said as he started driving again.

Because that wasn't a lie, both babies always fell asleep in the car, it was pretty magical.

"So who was that boy you were talking to?" Louis asked curiously.

"Uhm... just Oscar" Tori replied.

"Lizzie's brother?" Louis questioned,

"Yeah, Lizzie didn't come to school today, she has a stomach bug or something, and she asked me to give Oscar her Chemistry book from her locker so she can study for the test on Monday" Tori explained.

"I haven't seen him in a while, I didn't recognize him, he's a lot taller than I remembered him being" Louis considered "How old is he? 16?".

"Not yet, he's turning 16 next month" Tori explained "Why?".

"Just curious" Louis replied "You seem to get along".

"Well yeah, I've known him forever" Tori shrugged.

There was a brief silence in which Louis debated whether or not to say something else, and in the end curiosity won.

"Do you like him as more than just a friend?" Louis wondered.

"What?" Tori demanded.

"The way you were talking to him gave me the impression that you like him" Louis explained.

"I don't!" Tori said getting defensive "He's my best friend's brother".

"So what? I married my best friend's brother" Louis pointed out.

"You only knew Gemma for a month when you started dating dad" Tori pointed out, as she had heard the story before "I've been friends with Lizzie since we were 2, so Oscar is off limits... not that I like him or anything".

"I'm sure Lizzie wouldn't get mad if you liked him" Louis considered.

"Mum, stop! I don't like him like that" Tori insisted "Besides, he's seeing a girl from his year".

"Oh, okay" Louis accepted "Sorry".

Tori mumbled something as she looked out of the window, and it made Louis think that he was right, but he decided not to insist in the matter. After all, he used to the when his mum meddled without her being asked, and he didn't want to do that to Tori.

When they arrived home, Louis made sure that Connor's car wasn't there as he parked, and when he made sure he wasn't, they both got out of the car, and while Louis took Jamie out in his car seat, Tori did the same with Evie, and they went inside the house.

"Are you hungry?" Louis asked his oldest daughter as he closed the door.

"I could have a snack" Tori considered, as she put her backpack down "What do I do with Evie?".

"Let's just put then here in the living room, if we transfer them to their cribs they might wake up" Louis said as he walked up with Jamie to the living room, and he put the car seat on the floor, and Tori put Evie next to him.

"They look cute" Tori said as she took her phone out and then took a picture of her brother and sister sleeping.

"They are cute" Louis smiled as he looked at his baby twins, and then he looked at his oldest "And so are you".

Tori hated compliments, so Louis wasn't surprised when she rolled her eyes, and walked away to the kitchen, and she grabbed an oatmeal cookie from the jar that Louis always kept with healthy snacks.

"Do you have any requests for dinner tonight?" Louis offered as he joined her.

"I get to choose anything?" Tori asked as she sat at the kitchen island with her cookie.

"Yes" Louis nodded "As long as we have the ingredients here, I'm not going out again".

"I want nan's crispy friend chicken and fries" Tori decided, and took a bite of her cookie.

"Sure thing, baby girl" Louis agreed, because he had things to cook that.

"Really?" Tori asked surprised.

"Yes" Louis replied, and went to the fridge to take out chicken, as he needed it to defrost before he cooked it.

"Are you okay, mum?" Tori asked wide eyed.

"Yes, why?".

"Because you never ask me what I want for dinner, and you hate cooking fried food" Tori pointed out.

"I know" Louis agreed "But you're doing well in school, and you've been helping a lot with your brother and sister without us even asking, so you deserve a treat".

But although all of that was true, Louis was acting like this with Tori because of Connor's visit, which made no sense at all, but it was his way of dealing with it.

"Then can we also bake chocolate chip brownies to eat for dessert" Tori begged.

"Sure" Louis agreed "Why don't you go change out of your uniform and then we can start with the brownies".

"Okay" Tori said happily, and she got up, and went upstairs.

So Louis took out all the ingredients they would need, as well as a baking dish and mixing bowls, so by the time Tori came back downstairs, they were ready to start.

Except Jamie woke up, and he was hungry, so while Louis sat down with him to feed him, he instructed Tori on how to make the brownies, as he new the recipe by heart, and Tori was old enough to do it on her own, and she did a great job.

When Harry got home around 7:30 (which was later than he normally arrived on Friday's) they not only had the brownies ready, but also the crispy friend chicken and the fries.

"This is unusual" Harry grinned as Louis put a plate in front of him.

"It's Tori's dinner request" Louis said as he sat down on his chair while he held Evie with one arm, Jamie was in his bouncer.

"Great choice, baby girl" Harry told Tori as he picked up his fork "We should have this every week".

"No, so don't get used to it, it was just an exception" Louis replied as he started eating with just one hand "Tomorrow we go back to healthy eating".

Harry and Tori both groaned, but Louis didn't care, he knew the importance of healthy eating, and he wasn't going to feed his family junk food, no matter how delicious it was. Besides, his healthy dishes were really good and tasty, so Louis had no idea why they were complaining.

"How was work, love?" Louis asked his husband.

"It was okay... although I might need to go in tomorrow" Harry explained.

"But tomorrow's Saturday" Tori pointed out.

"I know, baby girl, but I have to" Harry sighed "Now tell me about your day, how was school?".

Tori started telling her dad about her day, which was something she did almost every day, and seeing how amazing their relationship was, made Louis very happy, but at the same time it made him get angrier at Connor for showing up now and wanting to mess with Tori's happiness.

But he didn't say anything to Harry or Tori, it wasn't the time.

After dinner was over, Tori went to her room, Harry put the dishes in the dishwasher, only to then help Louis give the babies a bath.

"It's time for bed now" Harry cooed as he dressed Evie in her pajamas after they were done with the bath "Are you going to sleep well tonight, Evie? So mummy and I can have a proper sleep?".

But Evie was already whiny, so Louis doubted she would sleep for a long stretch, unlike Jamie, who was now sleeping a lot better and for longer.

When they eventually got both babies to sleep, they put them down in their cribs in the nursery, turned on the monitors, and left them to sleep.

"Lou, I know we normally do a movie night on Friday, but I want us to talk about something important" Harry said once they were in the hallway.

"That's funny, I wanted to talk to you about something important too" Louis considered.

"What is it?" Harry frowned.

"Let's go to our room" Louis said and walked there.

Harry followed him there, and closed the door behind them, as Louis sat down on the bed.

"You go first" Louis decided, knowing that whatever Harry wanted to talk about wasn't going to be as huge as what Louis had to say.

"Okay... uhm..." Harry hesitated, and sat on the bed too.

"You know you can tell me anything" Louis assured his husband, sensing his nervousness.

"I want to quit my job, Lou" Harry declared.

"Oh" Louis replied, a little surprised.

Because although they had talked about Harry not being completely happy at his job, and Louis knew he would eventually want to change jobs, he hadn't expected to happen so soon.

"I just can't take it anymore" Harry explained.

"The long hours?" Louis wondered.

"To start" Harry sighed "But it's more than that, what I hate is that they don't let me be a real architect".

"What do you mean?" Louis asked confused.

"When I first started working there 4 years ago, I was happy to do whatever work they asked, but now I'm sick of just being in charge of designing parking lots or storage space for buildings, because it takes no creativity; and even when I suggest the slightest change in design in those, they say no because it's not my decision to make, but the lead architect's" Harry explained.

"But why can't you be lead architect?" Louis frowned.

"Because these projects are huge babe, it's entire buildings, I'd have to wait 10 more years to be in charge of a project like that, and I don't want to wait" Harry told him "And I'm not saying I expect to be designing a skyscraper, but houses yes... designing and building this house was amazing, I had more fun doing it than I've ever had at my job".

"So you want to go to a firm that allows you to design houses on your own?" Louis wondered.

"No" Harry denied.

"Then what?" Louis asked confused.

"I wanna do it on my own" Harry declared.

"On your own?".

"Yeah" Harry nodded "And I could work here, in the office downstairs, I can make it a proper studio, and that way I'd be home more and I could spend more time with the twins".

"That would be amazing, babe, but... who would you even design for? I mean... I don't understand how you would do this" Louis considered.

"It would probably be hard at first, to make a name for myself and get clients, but I can start small, start with house remodels and then work my way up to getting to design houses from scratch" Harry explained.

Louis was quite surprised about what Harry wanted to do with his career now, he hadn't  expect it at all.

"I know it sounds scary and that it's a risk to give up a good paying job for something so uncertain, but I feel like this is the right decision for my career, and for our family" Harry told him "I just need you to trust me".

"I do trust you" Louis nodded "And I never want you to be unhappy with your job, and if you say this could be better for you and all of us, then I'll support you".

"Really, Lou? Just like that?" Harry asked.

"You're the smartest person I know, and I know you wouldn't be telling me about this if you hadn't thought about it carefully, and weight in all the pros and cons" Louis considered.

"Of course, babe, if I didn't think this was a real possibility, then I would just stay at my job, even though I'm not happy there anymore" Harry told him "And don't worry, I'm not going to quit until I have everything set up here and I have a few jobs lined up".

"I'm not worried" Louis said, and placed his hand on Harry's cheek, and then leaned forward to kiss Harry's lips.

"Thank you for being so supportive" Harry smiled.

"Always" Louis smiled back.

"Now it's your turn, what did you want to talk about?" Harry encouraged him.

For the last few minutes, Louis had completely forgotten about Connor, but now that Harry reminded him that he needed to talk to his husband, he remembered everything, and just like that got really nervous and tense.

"What is it, baby?" Harry asked.

"Connor came here this morning" Louis spoke.

"What?" Harry asked wide eyed.

"He showed up out of nowhere, and wouldn't let me close the door when I told him we had nothing to talk about" Louis explained.

"Baby, you should've called the police, he can't force himself like that" Harry said looking worried "Are you okay? Why didn't you call me?".

"I didn't want to bother you at work, and I'm fine" Louis replied "But he basically threatened me to take me to court if I don't let him see Tori".

"He can't take you to court, he has no rights over Tori, legally I'm her dad" Harry reminded him.

"I know, and I told him that, but he seemed so sure that he could do it that it scared me" Louis confessed.

"We should talk to the lawyer that helped us with the adoption, make sure that he truly can't do anything" Harry suggested.

"Yes, I already made an appointment with her for next week" Louis replied.

"Good thinking" Harry said as he held Louis' hand in his "I'm sure she will tell us the same thing we already know".

"Yeah...".

"And baby...?" Harry trailed off.

"Mmm?" Louis hummed.

"You can always call me, even if I'm at work and you know I'm busy, I always have time for you and our kids, specially when things like this happen" Harry told him.

"Okay..." Louis nodded.

"And if that man ever shows up here again uninvited, call the police, and then call me" Harry told him very seriously.

"I will".

————————————
A.N. Sorry for the long wait!

What do you think about the aftermath of Connor's visit?

And what about Harry's plans to quit his job?

Thank you for reading 🥰

Xoxo