A/N: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HELPING THIS BOOK REACH 10K VOTES ALREADY!! THAT'S FUCCKING INSANE!!

I'm so sorry for the wait on this chapter. Oh and please stay tuned for the A/N at the end of this chapter - it's kind of important. But, in the meantime, I hope you enjoy this chapter <3

"Harry asked you to move in with him?!" Ashley squealed, "Holy fucking shit, Leah! That's awesome!"

"I know. I'm still trying to get my head around it, actually," I replied with a soft chuckle, "but first things first: I have to sort out a few things down here - and make sure that everyone's OK with it. Especially Piper."

"Piper will love it in Harry's house!" said Ashley, "She loves running around - and Harry's place has plenty of room for her to do that!"

"True," I chuckled again, "but still - Piper's not the only one I have to check in with."

"Well, I for sure am fine with it," she told me with a bright grin.

"Really?" I asked her hopefully.

"Yeah, 'course!" She replied without hesitation, "I want you to be happy, Leah. And if moving in with Harry will make that happen, then how can I object?" She smiled again.

"But what about the rent and stuff..?" I asked her, "Are you sure you can handle it on your own?"

"Oh, I'm sure I'll find another roommate. Just maybe not one like you," she chuckled briefly before suddenly gasping, "oh, wait! Where's your brother sleeping right now?"

"Aidan? He sleeps on a sofa bed at his mate's house," I replied, "why?"

"A sofa bed?" Her eyebrows rose, "So, he should be happy to be offered a proper bed, right?"

"Yeah, I suppose so..." I looked at her, "do you seriously want to ask Aidan to be your flatmate?"

"Yeah, why not?" She grinned, "I want my new flatmate to remind me of you, Leah. And Aidan's your twin brother - so he's the closest to you I can possibly get."

I cocked an eyebrow at her. "Are you sure this has nothing to do with the fact that you had a major crush on my brother back in school?"

"What?! No!" I saw her blush slightly, "Of course not! My crush wasn't even that major!"

I raised my eyebrow even higher. "When you found out he went to see a movie with Arianna Balondo from History class, you cried."

"I did not cry!" She objected, "I just...had allergies that day, that's all."

"Riiight..." I rolled my eyes, "well, alright then. I'll let him know you're keen to offer him a room if I move out."

"What do you mean if you move out?" Ashley looked at me suspiciously, "You're actually considering saying no to moving in with Harry Styles?!"

"Ashley, I won't be able to move in with him at all if Heath becomes too stubborn about it," I reminded her, "don't forget - I'll have to get his approval, too."

"Ugh," she groaned, "right. I forgot about that."

"If I can't convince him to let me and Piper go, then we aren't going anywhere," I lowered my eyes and sighed.

"Well, you're still gonna give him his visitation rights, yeah?"

"Yeah, of course," I nodded.

"Then why should he complain?"

"Maybe 'cause of the distance, for one thing," I replied before shaking my head, "ugh. Maybe I should get us to meet with Judge Elliott again, and-"

"No!" Ashley protested immediately, "Leah, whatever you do, do not do that."

"What?" I frowned slightly, "Why not?"

"Because I did some reading up," she told me, "before he became a judge, Elliott was a family lawyer - specializing in winning family court cases for fathers."

My eyes widened a little. "What? Seriously?"

Ashley nodded. "That's why we lost the case, I bet. Because when it comes to child custody disputes, Judge Elliott almost always sides with the fathers because of that," she placed a hand on my knee, "Leah, if you wanna move in with Harry, it's best if you and Heath try to sort it out yourselves, with no court involvement. Because if you do...Elliott's probably gonna side with Heath again, and think you're trying to keep Piper away from him."

"Ugh...true," I rubbed my hands over my eyes stressfully, "fuck, I just...I have no idea what I can say to him, to convince him to let us go..."

"D'you think you could ask Harry to help you?" Ashley asked me.

"Oh...yeah, of course," I nodded, "he already said he'd help me talk it through with Heath if I want him to."

"Good!" Ashley immediately grinned, "That's a brilliant idea, Leah - because not only will he be able to help you explain why you want to move in together, he could also help Heath see that he will take the best care of you and Piper when you do leave."

I nodded once more. "That's true..."

"Just keep things casual. Talk it out over a cup of coffee or something, yeah?"

I smiled at her. "Yeah, Ash. You're right. I will do that."

***

I pulled into Heath's driveway that late afternoon so that I could pick up Piper and take her home. After I switched off my car's engine, I pulled my keys out of the ignition, opened the door and climbed out of the driver's seat - locking my car up before jogging to Heath's front door and knocking on it. And I only had to wait a few moments before the door unlocked, and Heath was standing in the doorway.

"Oh, hey Leah," he nodded at me and gave me a small smile.

"Hi," I nodded and smiled back, "is Piper ready?"

"Yep," he replied before looking back into the house, "hey, Piper! Your mum's here, bubs."

"Mummy!" Piper came running to the door almost as soon as Heath spoke, "Mummy, mummy, you're here!"

My smile grew as I looked down at her. "Hello, pumpkin. Are you good?"

"Yeah!" She beamed back at me and nodded, "Did you have a nice time at Harry's house?"

"Yes, I did," my smile grew, "have you had fun, too?"

"Yes, I have!" Piper nodded again, "I've been dressing up my Barbies and letting them play in their new pool!"

"That's great!" I told her with a chuckle, "OK darling, go on and get your things so we can go home, yeah?"

"OK!" Piper nodded again before she turned and ran back into the house - leaving me and Heath alone once again.

"So, this thing you wanted to talk to me about..." Heath was the first to speak, "will you tell me what it is now?"

"Er, yeah, about that..." I bit my lip, "would you be open to talking about it in private with me and Harry?"

"With you and Harry?" His eyebrows rose, "OK, Leah, I'm getting concerned now. Why do you need him there?"

"Because this is an issue that involves all four of us: me, Harry, Piper and you," I folded my arms, "please?"

Heath let out a long sigh and rolled his eyes. "Alright, Leah. Fine. When do you want to meet up?"

"Whenever you're free," I replied.

"Well, er..." he scratched the back of his neck thoughtfully, "I'm free tomorrow, in the late afternoon - when I finish my classes for the day."

"OK, cool," I nodded at him, "would you be alright with meeting us at Harry's apartment? At Warnes?"

"Oh yeah, sure," he nodded back, "Harry's apartment it is."

"Great," I smiled at him, "alright Heath, I'll...I'll see you then."

"You got it, Leah," he smiled back at me.

"I'm ready, mummy!" Piper came bouncing back to the door with her little backpack slung over her shoulders.

"Good girl Piper," I took her hand and gently pulled her to my side, "thanks, Heath."

"No problem," Heath gave me a small, playful salute, "see you tomorrow."

"Yep," I nodded and smiled once more, "until tomorrow."

I waved goodbye to him before turning and leading Piper towards my car - and she began staring at me curiously as I strapped her into her booster seat.

"Mummy, why are you seeing daddy tomorrow?" she asked me.

"We just need to have a little grown-up talk, pumpkin," I replied.

"You and daddy have a lot of grown-up talks," said Piper.

"That's because we both love and care for you very much, Piper."

"Oh," she smiled at me, "really?"

"Absolutely," I smiled back at her and kissed her forehead, "don't worry about it, OK?"

"OK, mummy," her smile grew, "I missed you."

"I missed you too, gorgeous," I replied tenderly, "let's go home now, yeah?"

"Yeah!" Piper nodded happily, making me chuckle before I shut the back door and made my way to the driver's seat - anxiously biting down on my bottom lip as I slowly slid in behind the wheel.

Oh, God. How are we gonna do this?

How the hell can we convince Heath to let us move..?

***

"Fuck, where the hell is he?" I anxiously tapped my foot against the floor and bit my lip while I stared at Harry's living room door, "He better not be bailing on us..."

"Leah, just calm down," Harry placed a comforting hand on my knee, "pause for a moment, and take a few deep breaths, OK love?"

I nodded and obeyed - closing my eyes and breathing in deeply before slowly breathing out - repeating the process a few times until I was sure my heart had stopped racing so much.

"Thanks," I gave Harry a small smile, "I needed that."

Harry smiled back at me. "I know."

"Why do I have such a bad feeling about this, though..?" I asked him.

"What do you mean, Leah?"

"Well, it's already awkward enough that me and you, my boyfriend, are meeting up with my ex-boyfriend," I nervously twiddled my thumbs on my lap, "I also can't help thinking that this is not gonna go down well."

"Ugh. I know how you feel," Harry bit his lip, "but...we can do it, Leah. I'm sure all three of us can come to an agreement."

I nodded slowly. "Yeah...hopefully."

We spent the next few minutes in silence - with both of us anxiously staring at the door. And soon enough, a loud buzz suddenly rang throughout the apartment - finally indicating Heath's arrival. My heart began to race all over again - overwhelmed with nerves about how this was gonna go.

After exchanging looks, Harry & I slowly rose to our feet and made our way to the front door - where Harry looked through the peephole for a couple seconds and nodded before opening it - revealing Heath on the other side.

"Hi, Leah," he nodded at us both, "hello, Harry."

"Hi," Harry held out his hand, and Heath hesitated momentarily before he finally reached out and shook it, "thanks for coming."

"No problem," he removed his shoes and stepped into the apartment, "nice place, mate."

"Thanks," Harry gave him a faint smile.

"Hiya, Heath," I told him, "do you want a coffee or anything? I can make it for you, if you'd like."

"Er, no thanks. I just want to know what this is all about," he peered into the living room, "we sitting in here?"

"Yeah," Harry nodded, "make yourself at home."

"Don't mind if I do," he made his way into the living room and sat down on the couch - leaving Harry and I by ourselves in the hallway.

Well, great. This is already awkward.

We're already off to such a great start.

"Babe," Harry seemed to notice how tense I was, "babe, just breathe, OK?" he murmured to me.

I took a long deep breath and slowly nodded. "I know. I know, I'm just...ugh, I don't know what to say to him..."

"It'll come to you," he draped his arm around my waist, "and I'm here - I'm not going anywhere. We're doing this together."

I gave him a faint smile. "You're right. You're so right."

He smiled back at me and used his free hand to give my own hand a comforting squeeze. And together, we both made our way into the living room and towards the other couch.

"So, what's the big news?" Heath asked us as we sat down.

I bit my lip and briefly exchanged looks with Harry - and he gave me a small nod of encouragement - causing me to take yet another deep breath before I turned to Heath again.

"Look, Heath, I...er..." I could feel my hands trembling slightly in my lap, "Harry and I...well, w-we've been talking, and erm..." my voice trailed away.

"What? Are you two gonna get married?" Heath sounded amused, "You need my blessing for it, or something?" He snickered a little.

I rolled my eyes. "No, we're not getting married, we're just...we've been thinking."

"About?" Heath cocked an eyebrow at me, "Come on, Leah - spit it out. We can't stay here all day."

"Look, Heath..." Harry stepped in for me, "we've been talking about moving in together."

"OK," Heath nodded slowly, "so? You two already look settled in here, anyway."

Harry shook his head. "Not in this apartment. I can't be restricted to living in Worthing, and Worthing only. When I'm not abroad, my work is based in London. And because of that, if Leah and I are going to move in together, well...Leah...has to move to London."

Heath kept a blank face and remained silent.

"And...if she moves to London..." Harry briefly looked at me, "...then she has to take Piper, too."

"What?!" Heath's face immediately darkened, "Are you fucking kidding me?!"

"Heath, calm down," my voice didn't sound as strong as I wanted it to be, "just hear us out-"

"You are not, taking Piper away from me, Leah!" Heath hissed at me.

"I'm not planning to, Heath!" I narrowed my eyes at him, "For God's sake, just listen to me!"

"You want me to take this to the courthouse again, Leah?! Because you can bet your ass that I will!" He glared at me.

"That won't be necessary," Harry interrupted as calmly as he could - although I could tell he was struggling to keep his cool, "Leah & I planned to sort this out with you ourselves, and we will."

"Oh, what? She's gonna make me drive nearly two hours just to have Piper for one day, take her back with me, and then drive back on the same night?" Heath scowled.

"No, of course not!" I balled my fists a little, "Heath, Piper is your daughter, too. Believe me, I know that. And the last thing I want to do is keep her away from you!"

"Bullshit," he snapped, "face it, Leah - you've wanted that ever since I won our court case!"

"Heath, just shut the fuck up, and act like a fucking adult for a minute!" I blurted out, "I already have a plan for your visitation rights to continue if we go, for God's sake!"

"Oh, really?" He sounded like he was challenging me.

"Yes!" I let out an exasperated groan and took a deep breath to compose myself, "Look...my proposition...is for us to change your visitation days from every Tuesday and Wednesday to the weekends," I began to explain, "you can pick her up on Friday night, and drop her off again on Sunday afternoon or something."

"And it's actually better for you," Harry chimed in, "right now, Tuesdays and Wednesdays only give you one day and one night with Piper, but if you take her on weekends instead, she'll be with you for two days and two nights. So, you'll be able to spend even more time with her if we do it this way."

Heath's eyes widened slightly, and he stayed silent for several moments and seemed to force himself to calm down.

"Wait...what..?" He sounded confused as he shifted his eyes from Harry to me, "you're...you're serious?"

"Of course we are, Heath," I replied, "we know that you want to spend time with Piper. It would never be our intention to drag her away if we live in London together."

Harry nodded in agreement. "You already live with your girlfriend, right? And that makes you happy, yeah?"

"Yeah..." he replied slowly.

"That's exactly what me and Leah want," Harry placed his hand on my knee, "you can understand, right?"

"I guess..." Heath began, "but...what about Piper? What are you gonna do with her?"

"We'll enrol Piper in the best primary school we can find," Harry replied, "and I promise that I'll be able to fully provide her and Leah with everything they need. I can take good care of them both."

"Alright...good," Heath gave him a slow nod before he faced me again, "are you sure there's no catch to this, Leah?"

I shook my head. "This is the new arrangement I'm offering you, Heath - exactly as I've presented it. So, are you going to take it, or leave it?" I rose an eyebrow at him.

Heath was silent for a long time.

"Well...if that's really the case, then...I'll take it," he finally spoke, "thank you. Both of you."

I immediately broke out a relieved smile upon hearing his words.

"No problem," I sounded a little out of breath for some reason, "so...you'd be OK with us making the move, then?"

"Well, so long as you keep your end of the bargain, then yeah - I'm OK with it," he gave me a small smile back, "so, it's a definite thing, then? You're gonna move to London for the long-term?"

"Oh well, er..." I bit my lip, "we're still...talking it through. Our first priority was to make sure everyone would be good with it, if we were to go."

Harry nodded again. "We didn't want to make these huge plans about moving, only to find out at the last minute that someone didn't want us to go."

"But you are also planning to see if Piper likes the idea, right?"

"Oh, of course we are, Heath!" I rolled my eyes at him, "Seriously, what do you think of us?"

"Hey, I had to ask."

"We don't want to tell Piper too soon," Harry explained, "if she gets excited about the idea, we don't want to find out that someone is trying to stop us from going - and then have to break that news to Piper. We don't want to get her hopes up too early."

"Oh...fair enough, I guess," Heath shrugged, "well, er...good luck, then - with whatever you're going to do."

"Thanks, Heath," I gave him a respectful nod.

"So, I'll erm...show myself out," he slowly rose to his feet, "thank you again."

"Thank you for being OK with us going," I told him with a small smile, "bye, Heath."

He nodded at both of us before leaving the living room - and we could hear the dull thud of the front door shutting as he left the apartment.

"Phew..." I laid back against the couch and let out a long sigh of relief, "I actually thought that would've gone way worse..."

"Yeah. Thank God it didn't," Harry blew out a puff of air, "so, I...guess we're in the clear."

I smiled at him. "Yeah. I guess we are. There's only one thing left to do now."

Harry immediately smiled back at me.

"Tell Piper," the two of us said in unison.

***

The next day, Harry & I took Piper to McDonald's, where we bought her favourite Happy Meal with fries and six chicken nuggets, along with a strawberry milkshake. And she was unbelievably excited - she couldn't wait to eat it. And when the three of us sat in a booth with Piper sitting in between me and Harry, she started to dig in straight away.

"Oww!" Piper yanked her hand away from the chicken nugget she tried to pick up.

"Oh - be careful, Piper. Those nuggets are fresh out of the fryer," Harry told her, "they're hot."

"When will they stop being hot?" Piper huffed and crossed her arms impatiently.

"They'll cool down soon. But if you want, I can break them in little pieces for you so that they'll cool down quicker," Harry offered.

"Yes please," she immediately nodded.

Harry smiled at her and broke all six of her nuggets in half - with Piper watching in fascination as the hot steam that had been trapped inside the nuggets drifted out and evaporated into the air.

"You get more pieces, too," Harry gave her a knowing smile, "it's like you have 12 nuggets instead of 6."

"Yay!" Piper giggled, "Thank you, Harry!"

Harry's smile grew. "You're welcome, Piper."

"Can I eat them now?" She asked him.

"Sure you can, but just blow on them a little before you do," he told her, "they might still be a bit hot."

Piper obeyed and picked up one of the broken nugget pieces - blowing on it several times before popping it in her mouth. And as soon as she did, she immediately grinned and let out another giggle.

"Yummy," I heard her mutter before she picked up another piece - and neither me or Harry could help breaking out amused smiles as she ate.

But things quickly grew serious again - because we both knew that it was time. I honestly had no idea how Piper would feel about moving out of Worthing...but I'm hoping that she won't be too protestant about it.

"Er, Piper..." I began slowly, "darling, we...we need to have a little talk with you."

"Hm?" Piper looked up at me with a mouth full of fries, "Why?"

I gave her a look. "Chew one chippy at a time please, pumpkin."

"Oh...oops..." she blushed a little and sheepishly swallowed, "sorry, mummy."

"That's OK, Piper. But we really do need to talk to you about something."

"About what, mummy?"

"Well, sweetheart, Harry & I have been talking, and erm..." I bit my lip, "well...you do remember Harry's house, don't you?"

"You mean the really big white one?" asked Piper.

"That's the one," I smiled at her.

Piper smiled back and immediately nodded, "Yes, I remember!"

"And do you like that house, Piper?"

"Yes, I do!" She nodded again - more vigorously this time, "It's really big and pretty...just like a castle!"

My smile grew. "Well then...how would feel about living in that big house, Piper? You, me and Harry - living in it together?"

Piper cocked her head to the side questioningly at me - not seeming to understand what I was trying to say.

"Harry wants me and you to live with him in his house, darling," I tried a different way of wording it.

Piper's eyes immediately widened. "Really.?"

I nodded. "Would you like that?"

Piper gasped loudly, and a beaming smile immediately began to spread across her face.

"Yes!" She began to bounce up and down on her seat, "Yes, yes, yes! I wanna live with Harry!"

My smile instantly broadened even more.

Yes.

Thank God.

"Are you sure, Piper?" Harry asked her, "You know, you and your mummy won't be living in Worthing anymore if you come with me. London and Worthing are two different places, and they're quite a distance from each other."

"I don't care!" She replied bouncily, "I want me and mummy to live in London with you, Harry!"

Upon hearing her words, Harry smiled at her.

"That makes me really happy to hear that, Piper," he told her.

"It makes me happy, too!" Piper giggled, "Will I be going to kindy in London, Harry?"

"Oh no, darling - you're getting too big for kindy," I had to interrupt, "you're five years old, now. You're big enough to start school."

"School?" Piper asked.

"That's right," Harry nodded, "but we'll make sure to put you in a really good school, Piper - where you'll learn a lot and make plenty of new friends," he promised her.

"Is school like kindy?" She looked up at him.

"Not quite. It's just a tiny bit harder than kindy, but that's because you're getting older - and you're big enough to understand things that the children in kindy wouldn't - because they're still too young. Basically, you're too smart for kindy now," he gave her a knowing smile.

"Ohh..." she immediately began to smile back, and she let out a giggle, "OK."

"Oh, and don't worry - you'll still get to see your daddy," I chimed in, "we talked it out, and you're gonna stay with him on weekends, OK? It's really just like how it's always been - except the drive to daddy's house will take a bit longer."

Piper smiled again and nodded. "OK, mummy."

She then stayed silent for several moments - seemingly in deep thought - and she finally turned back to me.

"So...me, you and Harry are gonna live in one house together?" She asked me, "Like...a family?"

At her words, I let out a soft chuckle and nodded.

"Yeah, Piper," I brushed my fingers through her hair, "I guess it is kind of like a family."

"Like when I play with my dolls and there's a mummy and a daddy and a baby?" She pressed on.

"Er..." I bit down on my bottom lip a little - not exactly sure how to answer her question.

"If that's how you want to think about it, then sure, Piper," Harry spoke for me - smiling at her, "just like that."

"Does that mean you'll be like my daddy, Harry?" She looked up at him - her blue eyes big and hopeful.

Harry was silent for a short while - clearly taking a few moments to think about his answer.

"...yeah, Piper, I guess I will be," he finally replied - his smile growing a little.

Piper's face lit up immediately. "Can I please call you my daddy?"

My eyes widened slightly at her words.

Oh, shit.

This again...

Harry took a few more moments of silence - but in the end, his smile actually grew even more.

"You can if you want, Piper," he told her, "as long as you don't forget who your daddy really is."

Piper gasped and let out an excited squeal.

"I promise!" She said happily before jumping into Harry's arms, "Thank you, daddy!"

Hearing Piper actually call him 'daddy' for the first time seemed to startle him a little - but his face quickly softened in tenderness and affection as he hugged Piper close to him and chuckled quietly. I could tell that he'd easily get used to hearing Piper call him that.

My heart instantly felt warmed when I saw how happy the thought of being a surrogate dad to Piper made Harry feel. Before our relationship became so serious, I used to be worried that Harry would feel like helping out with Piper and actually acting like a full-time father figure to her were two different things. I used to be worried that he wouldn't be too keen on the latter - due to how busy he is with his work and livelihood, and how important it is to him.

But as our relationship progressed through the months - he definitely proved me wrong. He's shown me multiple times how much he'd grown to deeply love Piper, as if she really was his own flesh and blood. And the way he literally just agreed to let Piper call him her father just showed me once again. It really was starting to make me feel good about this move to London. It's gonna be a huge change...but I know we can do it. The three of us are in this together...and we will do it.

Because Harry, Piper & I are undoubtedly a family now.

A/N: So guys, I'm afraid I have a little bit of sad news. Well, I mean, it might only be sad for a few of you but for others it might not. You see, next week I'm starting at my polytechnic university. And idk how busy I'm gonna be, but I know that I'm definitely gonna be busier than I have been these past few years. And because of that, I might not be updating as frequently as I used to. In fact, if you think about the longest time you've had to wait for an update on my books, after next week it might take even longer. I'm not guaranteeing that, I'm just pre-warning you so that you can prepare yourselves or whatever.

I really hope my updating schedule can kind of stay the same, but if not, I'm really gonna miss you guys, and I'm really gonna miss updating frequently for you guys. But you know - study's gotta come first :/

Thanks again for all the support and votes you've made on this book, and to those of you who are still voting for my books in the Fanfiction Awards, your persistence has amazed me <3 I love you all 'til the end xxx