"Do I get to change my name on everything?"

"What do you mean?" Nikki asked, not understanding what Niall was talking about, they were standing in the home-ware store picking out things for redecorating Niall's room, the teenager not sure what colours he wanted so he had been staring at the paint cans when the question had been asked.

"Like, will they call me Niall Alexander-Cunningham at school?"

"If that's what you want" Nikki smiled and nodded when she realised what he meant, flicking her finger through the plastic paint swatches in her hand as she spoke "But yes your name will change on everything"

Niall smiled when he heard that, looking back at the paint cans and putting his hands in his pockets, glancing at Nikki again and then quickly back at the paints. There was something else too, but he didn't want to ask that particular question in the middle of a paint can aisle in a hardware store.

"So, do you think it's easy to build a book case from scratch?"

Nikki frowned as she heard Harry's voice, seeing him walking over to them with his hands in his pockets, having wandered off to see what else they could get for Niall's room.

"You are going to try and build a book case?" Nikki giggled, glancing at Niall who bit his lip to try and stop himself from laughing, turning his head away and stifling his laugh in his hand.

"What's wrong with that?"

"Have you ever built anything in your life?"

"I can put a body back together quite easily, what's the difference between that and cutting up some wood and nailing it together"

Nikki laughed, Niall snorting into his hand and looking back at Harry who stared at them with a wounded look on his face.

"We'll just buy him a new bookcase that comes with instructions. Does he even need a new book case?"

"No, please, I want to see him build one from scratch" Niall responded as he walked over to them and Nikki wrapped her arm around his shoulders, the teenager grinning at them both. He was still so happy that he had been dumped with Harry when he had been, he didn't know where he would be without them.

"See, Niall has faith in me"

"That's not faith" Nikki grinned, patting Niall on the shoulder as he moved away from her to walk down the aisle to look at the paint colours some more, a small smile on her face as she watched him go. She looked back at Harry, leaning up to kiss him softly on the lips. "He's been so much happier recently"

"So have you" Harry murmured, putting his hands on her arms and kissing her forehead before taking her hand and walking down the aisle with her "And for your information, I could build a great bookcase from scratch thank you very much"

Nikki just giggled and nudged him in the side.


"Hey, Dr A"

Nikki rolled her eyes and laughed as she greeted Niall's friend as she answered the door, stepping back to let him in. She told all of Niall's friends to call her Nikki, but they insisted on nicknaming her Dr A whenever they saw her. She supposed that was a teenage thing and just let it happen.

"You okay? Niall's up in his room"

"Yeah I'm cool" William nodded and wiped his feet on the rug when he stepped into the house, kicking his shoes off as Nikki shut the door behind him "How the baby? Niall didn't send us a picture today on the chat"

"He must have forgotten, we went to see Albert this morning and he's fine" Nikki smiled, every time one of Niall's friends came round they always asked how the baby was, she found it sweet that a couple of teenagers always asked how the baby was. Even sweeter that Niall sent them pictures of Albert all the time on their chat to give them updates. "Go on, Niall is in his room"

She smiled as William nodded and wandered in the direction of where Niall was, she was so glad that he had fallen in with a good group of lads, knowing that if he had stayed with his biological father then that would have almost certainly not been the case.

"Who was that?"

"William. I think Niall said that there were a few more coming over" Nikki responded to Harry's question as she walked into their living room slash dining room, leaning over to kiss the top of her head as she walked past the back of the sofa where Harry was sitting "I might go and see Albert"

"I'll come with you"

"And leave a load of teenagers in the house alone?"

"They're sensible"

"They're teenagers" Nikki laughed, leaning over to kiss his forehead and run her fingers through his hair and leaning over further to kiss him on the lips "Okay, I'll go and tell Niall that we're going to the hospital"

Making her way to Niall's room, she knocked on the door and waited for him to call to say she could come in, opening it and stepping inside.

"Harry and I are going to the hospital"

"Is Albert okay?"

"He's fine, I just want to see him" Nikki smiled at the worried look on Niall's face, seeing him relax slightly when she said that "We're leaving you here alone" she glanced in the general direction of the door when she heard the bell, then looked back to the two teenagers "Don't let us down"

"Of course not mum..Nikki, of course not, Nikki"

Nikki barely caught the slip up he continued the sentence so quickly, pausing with her hand on the door handle and feeling her heart jump. He'd never called her that before, perhaps it was a slip up, or perhaps he was testing the waters, but she smiled at him and nodded.

"We'll see you later"


"Niall called me mum, earlier"

Nikki saw Harry look at her quickly out of the corner of her eye, keeping her eyes on their son who was laying on the pillow on her lap, the nurse on the other side of the room writing her usual notes while they sat with the baby out of the incubator for a while.

"He did?"

"I think it was a slip up, he called me Nikki afterwards"

"Maybe he's been calling you mum in his head and it just slipped out"

"Maybe" Nikki smiled, looking at Harry as she did so "I liked hearing that from him. I know we're adopting him and he's going to officially be ours but I didn't think he would want to call me that. I don't know if we should wait to see if he asks, or if we should talk to him about it"

"Perhaps we should bring the subject to him" Harry suggested, stroking Albert's tiny hand with his thumb as gently as he could, the baby was still so strong with his grip and it made his heart so happy that their little boy was still fighting "Show him that it's okay for him to call us mum and dad"

"I'd like that" Nikki whispered, swallowing the lump in her throat as she nodded, she hadn't realised how emotional it would make her to think about Niall calling them mum and dad "I'm so glad Niall's with us Harry, I'm so proud of him"

"So am I" Harry nodded, kissing her forehead and letting his lips linger there for a while "And then one day we'll have this one home with us as well" he whispered, looking down at Albert and letting out a shaky breath as he sniffed and nodded "Isn't that right, Bertie?" he murmured, hearing Nikki let out a quiet sob as well.

Harry looked over to the door when it opened and their doctor walked in, the woman smiling at them both and greeting the nurse, before moving to sit on a spare chair near them and smiled at the baby.

"He's a strong one he is, you should both be very proud"

"We are" Nikki sniffed and smiled at the doctor, then at her baby, she knew what the rates for babies born at twenty-three weeks weren't that good, but every day that he was still with them was a blessing "It feels awful but..."

"Go on Nikki" the doctor nodded, giving her another small smile

"I'm surprised he's still here with us. Does that make me...sound awful?"

"No not at all" Dr Carnegie smiled at Nikki and reached over to cover her hand with hers and squeeze it gently "It's the curse of being a medical professional and knowing facts and figures, right?"

Nikki sniffed and nodded, feeling Harry kiss her head again and stroke some of her tears away with his thumb.

"I don't remember the last time I was properly relaxed. Even if I feel like I am, there's always that split second remembrance that he is here in this hospital and I could get a call at any point of the day..." Nikki trailed off and closed her eyes, turning her head away from Harry and sniffing, letting out a breath and then looking back down at the baby on her lap, stroking his little hat covered head with her thumb "I know how well he's doing, but I still..."

"We can get you in to speak to someone, both of you, if you want that. We have special therapists who deal with the families of premmie babies who can help you sort your thoughts out" Dr Carnegie told them both "I can put you in touch with them if you want"

"Please" Harry nodded before Nikki could respond, knowing that she would say no and just continue to bottle everything up "I think our son would like to speak to someone too"

"How is Niall?"

"We're adopting him" Nikki responded, her voice still full of tears but she smiled at Dr Carnegie "And he called me mum today"

"He's a good lad, from what I've seen. Loves his brother"

"He is and he does" Nikki smiled proudly as she thought of the teenager "He's been through a lot, and we thought that this year would be even better and he's just been...so good and patient about all of this and I'm so proud of him"