"Lou! Lou Lou, I want this!!" Nate screamed as he ran down the aisle to the older man.

"Depends on what it is," Louis said, not looking up from the list Harry scribbled out for him as the 3 year old crashed into his legs.

Nate grabbed the blue eyed lad's arm, tugging on him until he had his attention and thrusting what he had in his hand to Louis.

"...You want beans?" he asked completely confused.

"No! It chili!" Nate said as if that was the silliest thing he ever heard.

"Right," Louis chuckled to himself, taking the can from him and making a mental note to add chili fixings to the list. "With you and daddy all unpacked I was thinking we could have a special dinner tonight, what do you think?"

"Pizza!"

"Just pizza? You don't want to go out?" he asked, scooping the toddler up and sitting him in the trolley.

Nate lit up at hearing that, nodding quickly and saying a loud "yes!" as he jumped in his seat.

Louis couldn't help but smile down at him as he walked along the aisle. Even with the 3 year old stopping him every five minutes to look at something on the shelf or ask if he could have this or that, Louis couldn't wipe the grin off his face.

Just the change of permanently shopping for three, coming home and knowing Nate and Harry will be there had the older lad feeling like he was on cloud nine. His house was a home with his two boys living there now and everything was unpacked and in it's place.

Everything from Harry's flat fit seamlessly into Louis' place and Nate's room was finally decorated the exact way he wanted it, it was almost too easy. But since Harry finished the last of the unpacking today Louis thought a little treat was in order.

But first he had to try to read Harry's chicken scratch handwriting and get everything he needed on his shopping list, otherwise he'd be hearing it from his boyfriend later.

The two had made their way mostly down the list, walking through the store without Louis spoiling Nate too much for Harry to get mad at him.

"What do you think buddy, orange juice or cranberry juice?" he asked, his eyes scanning over the options and trying to figure out which one to get.

But when the 3 year old didn't answer him he looked to the toddler, only to see him completely still and staring at something further down the aisle.

"Buddy? What's wrong?" Louis asked, his eyes following where Nate was looking, only to see some guy's gaze on them.

Again Nate didn't answer though, instead let out a quiet whimper and tried to climb out of the trolley.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down big guy," Louis said quickly, noticing how scared all of a sudden he got.

He tried to sit him back down but if anything Nate only clung to his neck as he shook his head furiously.

"Okay, alright," Louis said softly, needing him to calm down before he had a full blown tantrum, and he didn't even know why he was upset.

"I wanna go home," Nate sniffled against Louis' shirt, quiet tears coming from him as he held onto the older man for dear life.

Louis opened his mouth, now really having no clue what got him this shaken. "We're almost done, just a few more minutes and we'll go home."

But he couldn't even take a step before Nate was clinging to him harder than before, letting out a loud cry and trying his absolute hardest to get down.

"Nate! Hey! It's okay, what's going on?" Louis asked, the 3 year old kicking his legs and squirming in his arms as he cried.

The entire time though he noticed the toddler's eyes were still focused on what was down the aisle and when Louis looked behind him it was just the same guy but now some woman with him.

He noticed they were looking at them as well and whispering but he did have a screaming toddler in his arms, he didn't blame them.

"Go home! I-I wanna go home!!" Nate yelled, sobbing into the blue eyed lad's neck as he held him.

"Okay, okay, we'll go home," Louis said quietly, rubbing his back and leaving the trolley behind as he carried the 3 year old out of the store.

In his mind it was easier to just get Nate out of here and come back to the store some other time. He couldn't bare to see him this upset and especially since he didn't even know what had him so upset.

But even as they made their way outside the toddler's cries didn't stop, only quieted once they got to the car.

"Nate what happened in there? You alright?" Louis asked softly, getting him in his car seat and trying to calm him down.

All he got was hiccuped breaths from him though, so he kissed his head and tried to calm him down before buckling him in.

"I-I wanna go home, I w-want daddy," Nate sniffled.

Louis nodded back at him, figuring he wasn't going to get an answer as to what got him this worked up. So instead of questioning Nate again he made sure he was okay in his seat before he got into his own.

As he started the car though he saw the same couple that was inside pretty much staring at him as they walked through the parking lot. He didn't think much of it though, there being a bit of a scene inside and them leaving in a rush made a few heads turn their way.

If anything he was grateful Nate started to calm down a bit once they were on the road and on their way home.

It was a quiet ride other than the toddler's occasional sniffling but once they got home it was clear Nate wanted nothing more than to go inside and see his father.

"H!" Louis called out as soon as he opened the flat door, carrying the 3 year old in and taking his shoes off.

"Hey how was-... Where are the groceries?" Harry asked confused as he saw the two empty handed. But his attention was quickly taken away from that as he heard Nate hiccuping and felt him reaching for him from Louis' arms. "What happened?" he asked worriedly.

Louis shook his head, his mouth opening and closing as he saw the toddler clinging to his father. "I dunno, I mean we were almost done but then he started crying, like real bad, it was like something scared him but he was begging me to leave so we did."

Harry furrowed his eyebrows, rubbing his son's back and kissing his head to calm him down. "What happened love? Why did you want to leave the store?" he asked Nate softly.

"I-I see the bad man, I want to go home," he cried quietly into his daddy's neck.

"Bad man?" Harry asked, having no clue what he was talking about and when he looked to Louis the older man just shrugged.

And just before he was about to ask Nate who this man was the intercom went off.

"What's up Daniel?" Louis asked into it.

"Mr.Tomlinson there's a woman here who is asking to see you, she seems pretty adamant."

Louis grew confused, having no clue who this woman would be as anyone who knows him or Harry has the code to come up. "You expecting someone?" he asked his boyfriend.

Harry shook his head, himself not knowing who this person was.

"Did she give you a name?" Louis asked into the intercom.

"She says her name is Kate. Do you know her sir?"

And again Louis was completely lost as to who this was, but when he looked to Harry to check with him he saw his boyfriend frozen.

"Haz?"

"Watch Nate," Harry barely whispered, not wasting a second before passing his son to Louis and rushing out of the flat.

It was like a whirlwind, the younger lad pretty much jogging out the door in a rush and clearly mad.

"Buddy I'm gonna help your dad, can you be real good and sit on the couch with Princess?" he asked, needing to follow Harry and figure out what was going on.

Nate nodded, Louis not wasting a second before placing him down and following where the green eyed lad went.

He was able to catch up with Harry just as he saw him stomping through the lobby and approaching the woman he assumed was trying to come up.

"Outside," Harry spat through his teeth as he approached her, his eyes boring into her as she looked back at him.

But once Louis got a good look at her he recognized her as the woman from the store, and his confusion only grew as the two clearly knew each other.

Harry led her outside, not even trying to hide how furious he was as soon as they got out the door. "What the hell is the matter with you?! Why are you here?!" he yelled, anger seeping out of him as he stared Kate down.

"I saw him at the store," she said quietly, her gaze shifting to Louis for only a second before it landed back on Harry. "He had Nate."

"And?!" Harry screamed even louder, "so you follow him home?! What the fuck were you thinking?!"

"I-I just... I didn't know him, I wanted to make sure Nate was okay," Kate explained.

Harry scoffed, having to clench his fists as he heard that. "So now you care?" he asked lowly. "Cause you didn't when your boyfriend was hitting our son. You didn't when you left him in diapers for days and gave him rashes or when he hit his head on the table and you left him bleeding until I picked him up! Don't you dare fucking say that you care!!"

"Harry I-"

"No!" he stopped her, not wanting to hear a single word that came out of her mouth. "There are no excuses, you need to go now and not come back," Harry said seriously, nodding over to her car and encouraging her to leave.

As he looked at the car though if possible he felt his blood boil even more at seeing who was in the driver's seat.

"You did not fucking bring him here..." Harry said through gritted teeth, it only taking a second to recognize the man.

He didn't even wait for a response though before he started stomping towards the car.

"Harry! No!" Kate tried to stop him, reaching for his arm but having it yanked out of her grip.

"H... Harry," Louis fast walked after him, seeing his boyfriend a second away from pulling this guy out of his car and beating him.

He was able to get to him just before he reached the car, wrapping his arms around his middle and pulling him away.

"I'm gonna fucking kill you! How dare you come here and-"

"Harry! Stop!" Louis yanked back on him, his boyfriend trying to get out of his grasp and go after the guy who was amusedly watching from inside the car.

"What?! You're not gonna face what you did?! A big man who hits a baby of course won't go up against someone his own size!" Harry screamed, growing more and more furious as the seconds passed.

Louis gave him one final tug, pulling him back enough from the car so he couldn't reach it. "You need to go, now," he said to Kate, her giving him a quick nod before she scurried to the car.

As soon as she was in the car they beelined it out of the parking lot, Harry basically heaving in the older lad's arms before breaking free and pacing as he combed his fingers through his hair angrily.

Louis just watched him for a second, himself catching his breath and feeling his heart plummet into his stomach now knowing who the couple was. "Harry..."

"Louis please...Just a minute, please," Harry breathed out as he shook his head, needing to calm down and think rationally before he talked to the older lad.

Louis bit his lip, feeling completely helpless as he just followed the younger lad with his eyes. He couldn't imagine how Harry must be feeling, how angry he must be. But the younger lad didn't even say anything before he started making his way back inside, Louis right behind him.

"If she shows up again or you see that car please let us know and call the cops," Harry said to Daniel once he was inside and getting a nod back from the older man.

But he still said nothing to Louis, not when they were in the lift to go upstairs or even when they reached the flat, he was silent.

Luckily Nate hadn't gotten into anything, instead was fast asleep on the couch, probably tired from all of his crying earlier. But right now Louis was more concerned about Harry, so he made his way to their bedroom, knowing the younger lad had gone in there.

"H...?" he asked quietly, peeking his head inside and seeing his boyfriend sitting on the edge of the bed.

"I'm sorry," Harry barely whispered, shaking his head and biting his lip as he felt tears threaten to spill. "I-I'm sorry, I shouldn't have- I-"

"Hey, hey, it's alright," Louis rushed over to him, wrapping his arms around him and almost immediately feeling his boyfriend crying into his neck. "Any feelings you have are justified, those people did nothing but hurt you and Nate."

At that Harry only cried harder though, hating them for how much they hurt his son, hating that they even had the audacity to follow Louis home.

"If anything I should be the one apologizing..." Louis barely whispered. "I should've known something was wrong at the store, I-"

"No," Harry stopped him, shaking his head and grabbing his hand. "You got him out of there, that's the best thing you could've done and you did that, you don't have to be sorry."

Louis let out a quiet breath, squeezing his hand gently and kissing his temple. "Are you okay?"

"I will be when I talk to Nate and tell him he'll never see them again... No wonder he got terrified at the store," Harry said softly. "I just... I could never wrap my head around how she could let him hurt Nate, how she could be so awful to her own son, and now she shows up like-"

"I know love, I know," Louis said as he heard the younger lad get choked up. "None of it makes sense to me either, but Nate is here with us and nothing like that will ever happen to him again, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Harry sniffled. "I hate that it happened at all but I did everything I could to keep them away and it still feels like it wasn't enough."

"No love, don't believe that," he said quietly as he wiped away Harry's tears. "You did do everything you could, nothing could've stopped what happened today."

Harry nodded at that, letting out a few deep breaths and trying to completely calm himself down. "Thank you for being there for him, for just caring about him and-"

"Hey, hey," Louis stopped him. "You don't need to thank me for that," he said seriously, "I love the two of you and I'd do anything to make sure no one hurts either of you, but that's me just being a boyfriend, nothing special."

"No, it is something special," Harry shook his head, "you're not just a boyfriend Louis, you're like a dad to him and after everything that happened with Kate I never thought I would find someone who would love him like he deserves, but you do and more and I need to say thank you, so just let me, please."

Louis was still for a second, his eyes focused on Harry and the smallest of smiles coming to him before he leaned forward and gently connected their lips. "We'll turn today around, alright? We'll talk to Nate, make sure he's okay and the three of us can do whatever you guys want for the rest of the day."

Harry looked back at his boyfriend like he was too good to be true, and to him Louis was. He doesn't know what he did to deserve a someone like this, and of course it's not like his boyfriend really saw how much he did for them, Harry wasn't sure if he ever would.

"I love you," he barely whispered, resting his head on the older lad's shoulder and letting out a deep breath.

Louis grinned down at him, pressing his lips into his hair and rubbing his back as he pulled him impossibly closer to his side. "I love you too."

The two just sat there for a few minutes, Louis letting Harry take his time before they got up to go downstairs and check on Nate, the 3 year old still napping on the couch.

"Hey, big guy, can we wake up?" Harry asked gently as he took a seat on the couch next to his son and ran his hand down his back. "C'mon buddy," he said, pulling Nate into his lap and getting him to open his eyes.

"Daddy?" Nate mumbled into his chest, curling into him and clinging to his shirt.

"Yeah love?"

"I see her," he said quietly, looking up at his father through his eyelashes. "I see her and bad man."

Harry bit his lip as he pulled Nate impossibly closer to his chest, holding on to him with everything he had as he kissed his head. "I know you did sweetheart and I'm so sorry," he whispered to him. "But I want you to know that me and Louis will never let them come close to you, alright? You'll never see them again."

Nate looked back up at his daddy, nodding at him before his eyes focused to Louis next to them on the couch and crawling over to his lap. "Thank you Lou Lou," he said, wrapping his arms around the older man's neck and squeezing him tightly.

And Louis didn't waste a second before hugging him back, letting out a deep breath and pressing his lips to his temple. "I love you buddy, I'll always be here for you."

But when he felt tears on his neck he grew worried, pulling slightly away from the 3 year old so he could wipe his eyes.

"What's wrong love, why are you crying?" he asked softly.

"B-because you nice and I-I love you and daddy love you, I-I wanna stay with you and daddy."

"Oh buddy," Louis breathed out, "daddy and I aren't going anywhere, and wherever we go so will you, it's okay."

Nate just nodded against him, sniffling to himself and tugging back on the older man so he would hold him.

And that's exactly what Louis did, pulling the 3 year old back into his chest and rocking him so he would calm down. The entire time he could feel Harry's eyes on him, but his focus was on Nate and making sure he was really okay. And the two just stayed like that, Louis holding onto the toddler and Harry wrapping his arm around him, assuring Nate that with the two of them there nothing bad would happen to him.

*~*

Harry lifted up the sheet covers, letting out a deep breath as he climbed under them and immediately attached himself to Louis.

"Hey love," the older lad chuckled, placing his book down on his bedside table and running his fingers through his boyfriend's still damp curls from his shower. "Nate got put down easy enough, probably already asleep."

Harry let out a quiet hum, taking off Louis' glasses for him and shoving his face into his neck.

Louis just looked down at him for a moment, letting his hand slide down the younger lad and began rubbing his back. "What's going on? What's on your mind?"

Harry nibbled on his lip for a second, clinging impossibly closer to his boyfriend. "Do you ever just wanna get away?"

Louis almost didn't catch it he spoke so softly, but after today's events he wasn't surprised Harry had asked. "Sometimes, yeah..." he said quietly. "After I met you two though my running away days are behind me... We can go away though ya know. Pick a place, take Nate and just leave."

Harry looked up at his boyfriend through his eye lashes, seeing his honesty, seeing how sincere he was and this was Louis, it's how he always is. "It's not that easy Lou, I have work and-"

"And what?" Louis chuckled. "You have work and that's all, and Sam can cover for a few days, maybe a week."

"You act like you don't have a job," he scoffed.

"I'm my own boss, they work around me," Louis tried to joke, making the younger lad roll his eyes.

"We can't just run away though..."

"It's not running away love, just a little vacation to put us all back at ease," he said, pressing his lips against Harry's curls and tugging him in impossibly closer. "Today was... Well let's just say you and Nate deserve it."

Harry shook his head, saying a quick "no we don't," as their gazes met. "Hell I wish I could send you on a vacation after all the shit you've had to put up for me."

"No, now you stop that," Louis said almost firmly. "I hate that, come on, you know I do," he breathed out, pinching the bridge of his nose as he heard the younger lad. "I don't put up with anything, I don't want to go on vacation alone, I want to go with you and Nate, now would you shut up and just say okay?"

Harry opened his mouth, absolutely nothing coming out as he just looked at the older lad. But then he saw Louis' smile break, the same smile that makes him go weak at the knees and he couldn't say no.

"I'll talk to Sam and see if maybe he can-"

"Yes!" Louis cheered, making a startled laugh escape the green eyed lad.

"Maybe Lou, maybe," Harry tried to stop him. "You know I ask alot of Sam, especially recently so I dunno if he can."

"Oh come on H, that man would do anything for you," Louis rolled his eyes as he sunk deeper into the mattress.

Harry couldn't fight him on that, Sam would do anything for him especially if it meant him and Nate got to spend more time together. "Alright, okay, we'll go," he nodded to himself. "Pick a place and we'll go."

"This'll be fun," Louis hummed to himself, rolling over so he could turn off the bedroom light and wrapped his arm around his boyfriend. "Gimme until the end of the day tomorrow, I'll have something planned for the three of us. We could all use it love."

Just at those words Harry could feel himself relaxing in Louis' arms, slipping into sleep with his boyfriend tangled around him.