Author's note: Here's the last chapter. Hope you've enjoyed the story!

Six months later

Escrow had seemed to take forever to complete, but at last Harry and Louis were settled in their new home. Life was good. Furnishing and decorating had gone smoothly. They had such comparable tastes that only small details needed a little discussing, and even then, it was infrequently.

The couch and loveseat were blends of browns, blues and greens, and there was really no "theme" to their house—just things that they liked, had caught their eye, and they enjoyed. They had found a lovely oak dinette set that matched the floors and cabinets, and Louis had agreed to Harry's choice of a huge brass bed for their bedroom. Harry had always wanted one, and Louis liked the looks of it, so they'd bought it within seconds of Harry's gasp and finger-pointing at it the moment they had entered the furniture store. Harry seemed unable to look at anything else, and Louis had to admit he thought the Cheshire lad had excellent taste.

The décor and knick knacks were a mixture of Louis and Harry's personalities. There was even a pigeon on one of the end tables. The end result was very aesthetically pleasing. When Louis' and Harry's mothers flew out to visit, they had been astonished at how the young lads had brought it all together and created such a relaxed, homey atmosphere that echoed their own unique characters.

The house was quite a bit more upscale than modest—more luxurious, but it possessed all the features they'd desired, and so they had taken measures to be sure it radiated principally a tranquil, inviting atmosphere, more so than just a showplace. It was their haven, their love nest, and pleasant retreat for friends and occasional visits from family.

Niall and Liam had been thrilled the first time they saw it, as had Stan, and after it was finished to Harry and Louis' satisfaction they joked about hoping to have a home with the same kind of ambience of their own some day when they found the girls of their dreams and got married.

The bulk of the time, Harry and Louis kept the lights dimmed in the living room to capture and sustain an overall serene and romantic atmosphere. It was where they spent quiet time together, having cocktails, tea, or entertaining a few guests. Most importantly, it was where they had their best conversations alone, preserving their cherished open communication and feeling of intimacy.

They'd gradually gotten to know each other all over again. Their talks lasted for hours—they were still enchanted with each other after all this time. Being introduced again after two years took some time, as they had both grown up to quite an extent. They were still the same people, but with more substance and depth. Even so, not a thing had changed on the elemental level. They were still enthralled with each other, attracted to each other like moths to light. Once fallen deeply in love, torn apart for two years plus, and then having found their freedom to love one another again—it was such an unlikely scenario, but on a very deep level, they'd never fallen out of love for a second.

The tour had ended a couple of months ago, and for the first time in months, they were able to take some time off to just relax , and they took this time to write songs, of course. It never seemed like work to them. It was fun, exciting and inspiring. Being able to share their passion for writing was motivating and heartening. It drew them closer yet.

On this particular day, Louis tip-toed through the front door, hoping Harry wouldn't see him straight away. He held the bundle of puppy under one arm, a new leash and collar in the other, leaving the bowl, dog bed, treats and puppy chow in the car because he couldn't carry it all in one trip, and it was important to him that he catch Harry unawares.

Sneaking around corners, Louis looked for Harry in each room, not finding him. Bewildered and disappointed because he'd wanted to surprise him, he headed for the back yard. That was the only place Harry could be, considering the Rover was parked in the garage.

And there Harry was, busy writing as he sat in a lawn chair on the patio, facing the other way, his back to Louis. Perfect for Louis' plan. Louis paused and admired him for a second. He was concentrating with a pencil held between his teeth. Louis was at a slight angle so that he could see Harry had that serious scowl on his face he sometimes adopted when writing. He was shirtless, in shorts, and barefoot. Louis permitted a smile to steal over his face as his anticipation grew. Just a few more moments now . . .

He slid the sliding glass door open soundlessly, gently setting the puppy on the ground, then closing the door, waiting to see how long it would take the puppy to find Harry. He knew it wouldn't long, as the puppy was very friendly and outgoing.

Exactly seven seconds later, the puppy noticed Harry and got a running start, happily jumping up at him, knocking his notebook out of his lap and startling Harry. But only for a moment. Louis watched as Harry's face transformed from surprise to pure, naked joy.

"Oh my God!" cried Harry, scooping the puppy up and into his lap and hugging him close, disregarding his notebook that had hit the ground, luckily, in one piece. His face being covered with puppy kisses, Harry found a second to glance over his shoulder to see Louis emerging from the sliding glass door.

"Lou! Lou! It's him, isn't it? The one we looked at yesterday!" Harry's voice was beginning to crack with emotion, his eyes looking unusually bright with the tears that were ready to overflow.

Louis simply nodded, not able to hold back his joyous laughter any longer as the pup chewed Harry's fingers and then frolicked over to the grass to pee.

"Look! He's already housebroken!" joked Louis.

Harry got up and hugged Louis, picking him up and spinning him around, as was their custom. "I wondered what you were on to when you left this mornin' and wouldn't say where you were goin.'" Harry grabbed the green collar Louis held and ran to the puppy, trying it on.

"Perfect fit! And it's . . . manly, macho. Like the great watch dog he's gonna be!" Harry was surely going to smile until his dimples fell off, thought Louis.

"Lou, how . . . how did you know?"

They'd gone to look at a few litters of Great Danes yesterday, and Louis had insisted that they be diligent in their final choice, since the dog would be with them for many years. They both fell in love with all of them, of course, but Louis had noticed that there had been one in particular that Harry had seemed to like the most. He hadn't said as much, but Louis felt the promise of a special bond between the two. He wanted Harry to be happy, it was that simple. Louis made a mental note to himself. Still, he didn't want to be hasty with this decision.

Harry hated leaving, but there were a couple more litters they had marked in the newspaper to go see. Last night, visions of Great Danes of every color in his head, Louis had been thinking about that particular pup, and had to admit he liked this pup the best, probably because Harry did, but it didn't matter. He'd decided what he'd do first thing in the morning.

So he'd left the house, resisting Harry's pleas to tell him where he was going. He knew Harry wanted to puppy shop today, but he assured Harry he'd be back soon.

After purchasing the puppy (and being certain it was the right one, which wasn't difficult because the breeder had tied different colored ribbons on all the pups to tell them apart), he'd gone to the pet store to get the supplies then went back and collected the pup before going home.

"Hazza, listen to me," Louis' hands held Harry's cheeks to make him focus on him instead of the pup, even as he felt Harry vibrating with barely leashed exuberance. "I had a distinct feelin' this was the pup you liked the best. If not, we can always take him back and get another one, or keep lookin.' The breeder said there would be no problem if I bring him back."

"No! No, I want him Lou! If you do too, that is. But . . . how did you know this one really grabbed my heart out of the dozens we looked at?"

Louis laughed with abandon. "Haz, I'll give meself credit for knowing you so well, but it really was kinda obvious. You responded to all of them, but this one kept coming up to you, and when he didn't, you went to him . . . over and over. So it was quite apparent, yeah?"

Each litter had consisted of at least nine pups, and several had consisted of a dozen, but of all of them, Harry's face had really brightened when he'd interacted with this one.

"The one with the green ribbon . . . " Harry's demeanor showed his delight with Louis' observance, and he picked Louis up to swing him around again.

"Yep, I made sure of that. But I mean it, Harry. My feelin's won't be hurt. I want you to get exactly what you want."

"If you like this one too, then yes, Lou, I want him! And you do know me. I'm amazed!"

"Like I said, it was rather obvious."

The roly poly fawn colored canine with the enormous feet and huge knobby knees waddled up to Harry. Yes, he'd been the one with a green ribbon, and Louis didn't take that lightly. Everything about their lives together seemed to revolve around green or blue or blue and green. So when he'd gone to the pet store, he'd naturally bought a green collar and leash.

Harry's eyes filled with tears as he helped Louis bring in the supplies, pouring a big bowl of water for the pup and setting his huge bed up in the living room, not sure where the pup would eventually sleep. One thing was for certain . . . he would not be sleeping in bed with the two of them. They had agreed on that point immediately. After that mutual understanding, they laughed and played with the pup for the rest of the day.

That night, they tried to settle the new little guy into his bed, which was so big it made him look like a mouse—but the puppy kept running to them or crying.

"He's lonely. He misses his littermates," said Harry. "He just wants our attention."

"I know," said Louis mildly, rubbing his bleary eyes. "I sure hope he doesn't do this every night though."

They also had to remember to take him outside at least every two hours so he'd get the idea of relieving himself outside, and by morning, they were both a bit haggard.

Harry's phone rang as they were eating eggs on toast for breakfast, the puppy having finished his bowl of puppy chow, and now was lying on the kitchen floor at their feet, chewing on one of his many rawhide treats.

It was Liam. "Hey guys, mind if we come over?" he asked, his voice sounding strangely bubbly, as if he was about to explode with energy. Normal behavior for Niall—but Liam? Not really typical.

"Sure," said Louis. They hadn't yet called Liam and Niall to tell them about their new family member, but Louis figured they'd tell them when they talked to them or saw them, which was almost daily.

Minutes later, Liam pulled into the driveway, and Niall opened the door. Liam was holding something, and Louis figured it was probably a housewarming gift, and he was about to admonish him because they already had everything they could possibly want, when Louis saw that what Liam had was spotted, and it was wiggling.

Niall couldn't hold his tongue, and blurted out, "Look you guys! A Great Dane puppy!" he was as proud as they had ever seen him.

"You said you wanted one someday, so I hope it isn't too soon . . ." Liam's voice faded as the other puppy galloped over to him, jumping up to try to see the spotted puppy. Niall and Liam's eyes locked.

"Shit, we screwed up Niall!" Liam cried.

"Oh . . . look at that!" Harry was upon Liam in two steps, gathering up the spotted puppy. Louis could do nothing but stand and stare. The puppy, Louis noticed, had a blue collar.

Green and blue. Here we go again.

"I'm sorry Lou, Haz," apologized Liam. "We didn't realize you'd already . . . "

"No problem, Li. Just bought him yesterday. I brought him home as a surprise for Harry. I think I recognize that spotted one though," Louis continued thoughtfully. "We saw a spotted litter too. God, we looked at a lot of Great Dane puppies." They had been dancing through his head all night, in fact.

"The spots—it's called harlequin," announced Niall.

"He's soooooo cute, Li and Niall . . . but we can't take him," said Harry wistfully as he watched the two pups playing happily.

"Um, it's not a him. It's a female," said Niall.

Louis stood there, watching Harry squatting down on the floor, a pup under each arm, getting his neck and ears licked from both sides at once, and made a sudden, very rash decision.

"Thanks so much, lads. And we'll take her!"

Harry looked as if he was seriously light-headed as he stood up and grabbed Louis' arm to steady himself, catching Louis' eyes with his own.

"What'd you say, babe?" he asked.

"Why not, Haz? We have one Great Dane, why not two? Ours was crying and lonely last night, and we had to keep going to him to reassure him," Louis explained to Liam and Niall. "Now he won't be lonely—he'll have company!"

They had named the male Jackson that morning, but changed it to Jack, and called the female Jill. Right away, Jill took to Louis, and Jack preferred Harry, as he had from the start. It was twice as much work, but really not, in a way, since they took the two outside together, and simply poured two bowls of puppy chow instead of one. There was twice as much poop though, but the pups brought so much joy that they didn't mind the extra clean-up duties.

When they'd called Stan to tell him the news, he happily offered to babysit, and even stay at their house so the pups wouldn't be stressed by a change in environment. So now they wouldn't have to hire a dog sitter when they went on tour, visited their families, or whenever they'd be gone overnight. Stan was a great animal lover, and said he'd be over tomorrow to meet the new family members.

Liam and Niall left a little while later, claiming they had errands to do, but Louis saw the twinkle in their eyes. They were leaving Harry and Louis alone to bond with their new pooches.

Harry and Louis followed them to the door, hugging each in turn.

"I can't thank you enough," said Harry. "She's the best gift ever."

"You're sure it's not too much? We won't be offended if—" Liam was offering again to take away the extra burden of another dog.

"No way!" said Louis. "It's the perfect answer for our dilemma. Jack needed company," he finished firmly.

They watched Niall and Liam drive away, quickly returning to the living room to be sure the pups weren't destroying something. Each was chewing a bone in the new dog bed.

"They look funny in that massive dog bed with about four feet of room left over," laughed Harry.

"You just wait a few months, mate. Eventually we'll have to buy another bed because they both won't fit in it. You saw how big the adults are."

Harry nodded in awe—he found it hard to imagine these pups being as enormous as the various parent Great Danes they'd seen.

They put the pups in the back yard and watched them gallop around clumsily, tripping over their own feet, occasionally streaking past the window, trying to catch each other. A laugh a minute.

Great, innit? Our own house, our own dogs, and we're a family now," Harry said dreamily as he languidly rested his head on Louis' shoulder as they sat on the couch. "I feel like it's a real home now."

Louis slumped down somewhat to give Harry the maximum amount of comfort.

"Right, I love it, Haz. Come on, bad boy. Let's go cuddle in the bedroom. Harry knew what "cuddle" was sometimes a euphemism for. And this was one of those times. His heart immediately sped up.

The had thought their passion for each other would have cooled down, or even just leveled off by now, but instead it remained a bright flame that could be stoked with barely a gesture or touch, and seemed to burn even brighter if they were separated for a few hours, or Lord help them, a couple of days.

The pups got along wonderfully, Jill being a little smaller than Jack. She held her own, and was, in fact, the boss. Jack was gentle with her, and as they rough housed, they didn't even notice Harry and Louis had disappeared. It was the best decision they could have made because the pups would keep each other busy. Harry and Louis could vanish into the bedroom without having to worry about a puppy crying, and they were hoping to lose a lot less sleep now.

Harry and Louis had gotten married secretly only a month ago, with just a few friends and family members present. It had been a secret wedding to eliminate any disturbance from the press. It had taken place in their own back yard. Harry had cried like a baby, and Louis, being the stoic he was in front of others, only shed a tear or two, but was not embarrassed at all by Harry's tears. It was just the way Curly was—emotional and sensitive, and Louis wouldn't have him any other way.

Niall's nose and cheeks had been red, and he held a tissue, and even Liam was sniffling a bit. Jay and Anne had cried openly, their husbands enduring it with smiles, and Simon, who was also in attendance, turned his head away a couple of times, Harry and Louis assuming he was regaining control over his own emotions.

Gruff as the man might be, and as much as he might grumble, Simon did, after all, have a heart. He had matured himself, just as the boys had. He figured he might as well be pleasant, that even though the lads had predominated, they'd earned it. And this was benefiting Simon, after all. 1D was at their all-time height of popularity. And besides, he'd always liked the boys—he'd just gotten a little bit too carried away "running the show," so to speak.

Harry played coy when it was time to kiss after the vows had been recited and rings had been placed on the correct fingers; Louis had to coax him in, but Harry ended up holding Louis' face as he usually did when kissing, and then they didn't want to stop. Liam made a hushed comment about "being sickening," and everyone laughed, effectively easing Harry's tension.

The reception, taking place afterward, still at their house, was simple and brilliant, with a cake and plenty of food and drinks.

Harry and Louis asked that donations be made to a charity in lieu of gifts.

"You're a bloody tease, Harold," Louis mock complained as they went in to the bedroom.

"What?" asked Harry, confused.

"I was jus' rememberin' our weddin,' and how you played hard to get."

Harry colored up. "I'm sorry, hedgehog. I have no trouble kissin' you in front of tens of thousands, but kinda got out of sorts with just friends and family. Pretty dumb, yeah?"

"No, just you, Harry. You're unique."

"And so are you, Lou. You're me Superman. And wearing your Superman shirt at the reception wasn't necessary, you know."

He had. He really had. And it had been a glowing success. He reflected on how almost everyone had giggled when he'd changed into it, acting as if nothing were out of the ordinary. . .

"You're a smart ass, Styles."

"You're a bad ass, Sassamaster."

They both laughed.

Harry's heart felt like an ember ready to roar into an inferno if it were fanned by Louis the slightest bit. He wrapped his arms around Louis and breathed in deeply, loving his warm scent. He did that a lot these days, having been denied for such an eternity.

Seeing Louis every day, living in the same house, had made him feel worse than deprived. He'd been wrecked.

After the hug, Harry's hands caused wonderful sensations when his fingers touched Louis' lightly, sensually, then weaved them together. It was tender. All Louis' senses were shot to new heights. The sound of Harry's quickened breathing had to be the most thrilling of all.

Harry spoke quietly, sitting on the bed after flicking Louis' fuzzy red slippers to the side so he wouldn't trip on them. "You know, we're not who we used to be. We're better. More mature, better able to communicate, and I'm proud of us for that."

"I wasn't all I was capable of bein' without you, Harry. I needed your support, and I needed to feel your love. I never wanted anyone else."

"You've always had my support and love, Boo, although I didn't voice it. We're two hearts in one home. You've always brought me home, even when we couldn't be together. You are my home. Now I can touch what I see, whereas I couldn't before . . . "

"The glass was half empty; now it's half full," Louis murmured.

Harry nodded and said softy, "I never want to feel like that again. I was tryin' to remember how it felt to have a heartbeat." He hugged Louis tight again, sighing, holding Louis' head against his chest.

"You're me heartbeat."