Chapter Text
At night, Cozumel Island still looked cheerful and beautiful. Louis could already confirm that this was becoming one of the best trips of his life, and that was saying something considering how many he had taken.
Alongside his friends, he walked into a bar that made it obvious from the outside that it had a great atmosphere. People were dancing everywhere to the sound of the music echoing throughout the place. The heat hit him immediately, but in the best possible way.
They settled at a table, and the drinks arrived shortly after. Some of his friends went to the dance floor, others were already flirting, while Louis stayed in his seat, moving his head along with the rhythm and quietly humming the song playing in the background.
He took a sip of his margarita when a guy sitting a few tables away caught his attention.
He had long, curly hair, a defined jawline, and eyes so intense that they seemed to look straight through him. His omega stirred.
He was an alpha.
The guy smiled at him, and Louis felt like he was melting when he noticed the dimples on his cheeks. He smiled back shyly.
He was incredibly handsome.
"Please, come over," he begged silently.
They spent several minutes looking at each other and exchanging smiles from across the room, and just when the alpha finally decided to approach him, a girl wrapped herself around his arm, stopping him in his tracks.
Louis frowned, irritation slowly building inside him. The girl was beautiful and clearly knew the alpha. She talked to him and leaned against him with far too much confidence, as if she were his girlfriend.
Maybe she was.
And damn it, that only made him even more annoyed.
Frustrated by the situation, he stood up and walked toward the crowd of people dancing. He found his friends, and they quickly pulled him into their group. The Latin music ran through his veins; he wanted to enjoy himself and forget about everything for a while.
He could have gotten involved with the curly-haired alpha and had a good time, but it was obvious that wasn’t going to happen.
Besides, he didn’t need an alpha to have fun.
He was genuinely enjoying himself on his own when, suddenly, large hands wrapped around his waist and a powerful, delicious woody scent drove his omega wild.
He turned around to face the owner of the scent that had made his legs go weak.
The curly-haired alpha stood in front of him.
He was even more handsome up close.
Damn, that wasn’t fair.
"Is it okay if I dance with you?" the alpha asked, his voice low and rough.
Louis swore his knees could give out.
Yes, he was the kind of man who looked like he had stepped straight out of an omega’s fantasies, but Louis had standards, and he wasn’t interested in getting himself into trouble.
"I thought you weren’t available. It looked like someone over there wanted your attention," he said, nodding toward where the alpha had been with the omega.
The alpha smiled.
"And I want your attention." He tightened his hold around the brunette’s waist. "Don’t worry, I’m single and available for pretty omegas like you."
"If you’re trying to get something from calling me pretty, you’re wasting your time."
"I’m not trying to get anything. But if you let me dance with you, I’ll consider it my greatest achievement in life."
Louis let out a small laugh and turned around, dancing with the alpha pressed against his back. He moved his hips sensually, brushing against the curly-haired man while he left kisses along the omega’s jaw.
The heat between their bodies grew with every passing minute. After a couple of songs, they were both desperate for something more.
Louis tilted his head and found the alpha’s face. Their lips met in a kiss that made the entire world around him freeze. Their hearts raced, and their wolves recognized each other.
Louis turned around completely, wrapping his arms around the alpha’s neck so he could deepen the kiss.
Inside them, it felt like a celebration—an overwhelming feeling neither of them had ever experienced before.
The lack of air forced them to pull away.
There was no need to say anything to explain what they had felt. Their dilated pupils, flushed cheeks, and uneven breathing said everything.
"You haven’t told me your name. I’m Louis."
"Harry."
"Harry," Louis repeated, deciding the name suited him. "I’ve had a good time here, but I think we could have an even better one somewhere else."
Harry didn’t need to be told twice. He took Louis’ hand, and they left the bar almost running.
They took a taxi, and Harry gave the driver the address of his hotel. If they made the driver uncomfortable by kissing desperately in the back seat, neither of them cared. The only thing they wanted was to feel close to each other; they craved it.
The poor driver had to let them know they had arrived because they were still too distracted, their lips moving against one another’s.
At the front desk, Harry registered Louis as his guest, since he would be spending the night in his room. Between playful teasing and more kisses, they made their way to the elevator.
An elderly woman looked at them disapprovingly and made comments about how young people these days didn’t want to have children anymore. Louis hid his face against Harry’s chest in embarrassment, while the alpha struggled not to laugh.
Finally, once they reached the room, they closed the door, and Louis immediately threw himself at Harry.
They walked backward until Louis’ legs hit the edge of the bed. He let himself fall onto the mattress, but something hard pressed against his back, making him let out a pained sound.
"Ow!" He pushed Harry away so he would move off him.
"What’s wrong?"
Louis grabbed the object he had almost crushed: a 2000s camcorder.
"Wow. I haven’t seen one of these in years."
"Yeah, almost nobody uses them anymore, but I still like them better than a phone."
"I had one too, and I loved it. But one day it disappeared, and I never found out what happened to it. I lost everything that was on there… they were good memories."
Harry listened carefully, studying the omega’s expression. It was obvious that Louis had been hit by a wave of nostalgia while talking about that small detail of his life, holding the camcorder in his hands.
He gently took it from him and turned it on, pulling out the side screen.
Louis’ reflection appeared on it, sitting on the bed.
"Do you have some kind of fetish for recording people in hotel rooms?"
"No. Actually, I use my camera to capture things I like. Things I never want to forget."
"That’s a pretty deep thing to say to someone you’ve known for less than two hours."
"It’s true. I don’t understand why you haven’t run away yet."
Louis took the camera from him and pointed it toward the alpha. Harry immediately started making silly faces and acting ridiculous, making Louis burst into laughter.
They looked like two children playing with a new toy.
Then, without warning, the camera was turned off and tossed somewhere in the room.
Louis pushed Harry back onto the bed, making him lie down so he could sit straddling him. He pulled him into another kiss, and slowly, they began to undress.
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Louis didn’t want to say goodbye to Cozumel.
Not again.
It was ironic, considering that at the beginning he hadn’t even wanted to come.
The beach house had welcomed them so warmly that it had made them feel like they belonged there, like it was home, even though they had only spent a week inside those walls.
The drive to the airport was quiet and bittersweet. It was obvious that none of the three of them wanted to leave. Elle recorded herself saying goodbye to the island, and after that, she never picked up the camcorder again. She barely talked during the entire trip back.
When Louis opened the doors to his house, he didn’t feel the relief or comfort he expected.
Instead, uneasiness washed over him as he looked around at those walls where the good memories had been overshadowed by the painful ones.
The word home no longer carried the same meaning.
While Harry helped carry the suitcases to the bedrooms, Louis collapsed onto the couch. He glanced at the clock hanging on the wall and sighed heavily, preparing himself for the fact that from now on, the hours would feel like seconds.
"I went into your room to leave your suitcases there. I hope you don’t mind."
"Thank you, Harry."
"It’s nothing." He scratched the back of his neck. "Uh… well, I guess I should… go home."
Louis stood up.
"Oh, yeah, of course. You need to rest and recharge."
"I actually have plenty of energy. Those vacations did me good. They were the best."
"Yeah, I think we agree on that." Louis gave him a small smile.
"Really?" Harry teased. "And to think we had to convince you that it was a good idea."
"Don’t blame me. You know it could have been awkward and ended badly, like most things do."
Harry shook his head, his expression becoming serious.
"I knew it wouldn’t. It’s impossible for things to end badly with you. You’ve always been different."
Louis felt his chest tighten.
He lowered his gaze and wanted to argue, to tell him to stop saying things like that because they made him emotional. It wasn’t fair for Harry to be kind to him, because they weren’t the same people they used to be.
Back then, Harry could say something cheesy, and Louis could kiss him if he wanted to because he was his and he had every right to.
Now, he didn’t.
"Well… you were right."
Silence settled between them.
Harry lowered his gaze as well.
"I should go. See you."
"See you. Take care." Louis walked him to the door.
"You too."
Harry waited, hoping the omega would look at him one more time. But when he realized Louis wouldn’t, he finally left.
Louis closed the door and released the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding.
And there it was again.
That feeling inside him, stirring.
He placed a hand over his chest as if it physically hurt, as if the return of his instincts was tearing him apart.
Maybe it was.
And that was the saddest part, because he should have been happy. It was a good sign.
But he couldn’t see it that way.
He couldn’t feel it that way.
He cursed nature.
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His class had ended half an hour ago, and he was sitting at his desk grading some assignments. His glasses kept slipping down the bridge of his nose, so he had to adjust them every time they were about to fall.
The doorbell rang, and Louis immediately grew nervous, knowing exactly who it was.
Without even realizing it, he fixed his hair and adjusted his clothes. It was something he had started doing during the last three weeks since the trip: trying to look good for the alpha.
A smile accompanied by a pair of intense green eyes was the first thing he saw when he opened the door. His heart sped up, and something else inside him reacted.
"Louis."
"Harry… hi."
"How have you been?"
"Very good. And you?"
"Same. Good."
"Come in. Elle will probably be down in a few minutes. She’s running a little late."
"Oh, okay."
Harry stepped inside the house and walked into the living room while Louis went to let his daughter know that her father had arrived. The alpha’s eyes landed on the laptop and notebooks scattered across the table.
"Were you teaching?"
"Yeah, I had just finished when you arrived."
"So now you have morning classes, with how much you love waking up early."
"I want to spend more time with Elle in the afternoons. It’s a sacrifice worth making."
"Definitely."
They stared at each other, neither of them knowing what else to say.
Not because they felt uncomfortable or because they had nothing to talk about, but because they were two people who had so much to say and, at the same time, didn’t know how to express it.
Louis played with his hands and took a step closer without even thinking about it. Harry smelled so good that he wanted to breathe in his scent deeply.
He stopped himself.
However, the curly-haired man didn’t.
Harry’s eyes widened slightly, and his nostrils flared.
He would have taken another step if it weren’t for the sound of Elle coming down the stairs. Louis blinked several times and quickly moved away from Harry.
"I’m ready," the curly-haired girl announced, carrying her backpack.
"Come here." Louis opened his arms, and his daughter immediately ran into them. He kissed her cheek. "Take care of yourself and behave."
"I always do." Elle kissed his cheek back, then frowned as she brought her nose closer to the omega’s neck, where a large scar was visible. "Mom, you smell good."
The comment about his scent in front of the alpha made Louis blush.
"Thank you, sweetheart."
Only when the omega was alone in the house did he fully realize what had happened.
He went upstairs, and while passing by Giselle’s room, he noticed that the bed was unmade.
Louis shook his head, mentally scolding his daughter. He removed the sheets and found Harry’s camcorder.
He remembered that Elle had been using it during the trip, and curiosity about what she had recorded took over him. He set the sheets aside and sat on the bed.
He watched every video, smiling and feeling his heart fill with affection at the things Elle said in front of the camera.
She was just like her father; she had inherited the same silly sense of humor from him, unfortunately.
His heart tightened, and tears stung his eyes during a recording where Elle was collecting seashells and explaining that her brother loved them.
But it was another video that left him completely frozen.
It was the night of the sleepover.
He saw himself with his daughter and Harry watching a movie. Elle threw a piece of popcorn at Harry, and he caught it with his mouth. Then Elle tried as well, but failed over and over again.
The recording changed to a scene where Louis and Elle were already asleep, while Harry proudly showed that he had won his own little challenge.
The video changed again.
It was Harry and Elle back inside the blanket fort, whispering because Elle had woken up again and couldn’t fall asleep, just like her father.
They talked about how beautiful Cozumel was and everything they had done there, even though Elle hadn’t been able to participate in certain activities because of her mother’s rules.
"My mom is really overprotective of me, don’t you think?"
"He just wants to take care of you and make sure nothing bad happens to you," Harry replied.
"I know, but he exaggerates a lot."
It seemed like Harry was about to say something, but he stopped when he noticed the camera.
His hand covered the lens.
"Stop recording."
There were strange sounds, as if the camera had been placed somewhere else. The screen showed nothing but darkness, but their voices could still be heard.
"Ready."
"Elle, sweetheart, I understand that you’re a very curious girl with a lot of energy, and we love that about you, but you have to understand your mother. You need to be empathetic with him. He has been through a lot since what happened with your brother."
"I’m sorry, Dad."
Harry continued.
"If your mom protects you too much, it’s because he’s afraid of losing you too, and because the guilt has been weighing on him for a long time."
No one spoke for a few seconds.
"Dad… do you still love Mom?"
The answer came after a quiet sigh.
"I will always, always love your mother. There is nothing that could ever make me stop loving him."
"I don’t understand you two," Elle said.
A soft laugh followed.
"It’s complicated for someone your age. When you’re older, you’ll understand."
They agreed to go to sleep, and the video ended.
Louis felt a huge knot forming in his throat, and countless emotions moved through him at once.
He couldn’t cry. His body simply wouldn’t respond.
What was he supposed to do?
Harry still loved him.
After all, he had never stopped loving him, and Louis didn’t know what to do with that truth.
A new wave of questions came crashing over him.
Had he meant it, or had he said it because he didn’t want Elle to feel hurt if he admitted otherwise?
Was it the same love he had felt when they were happy, or was it something different now?
Why had he allowed the divorce if he had supposedly never stopped loving him?
He placed the camcorder back on the bed and left the room with trembling hands.
When would life stop hurting so much?
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The sound of a car parking in front of the house made Louis immediately look up.
He had been sitting on the couch reading a book, although his mind had truly been somewhere else.
When the doorbell rang, he set the book aside and stood up to open the door. Elle smiled widely at him and wrapped her arms around him, while Harry stood behind her carrying her backpack.
"Did you have a good time?" Louis asked, trying to sound casual.
"Yeah, it was really fun. Dad and I went bowling." Elle took her backpack and then looked at Harry before looking back at Louis.
"Can we invite Dad to eat with us?"
The question caught Louis off guard. His eyes moved toward Harry, who hadn’t said a single word, equally surprised.
Just as Louis was about to answer, he spoke first.
"Of course. If you want to stay for dinner, you can."
Harry looked surprised, but not upset.
"Are you sure?"
Louis nodded.
"Yes. It’s not a problem."
A soft smile appeared on the alpha’s face.
"Then I’ll stay."
Louis prepared something simple for them to eat. For a while, everything felt normal. They talked about Elle’s school and the little stories that had happened during their trip to Cozumel.
These were the moments that allowed him to rest from the pain.
Because there was Harry, sitting across from him, joking with Elle and making her laugh until she could barely breathe.
It was a scene Louis had missed more than he was willing to admit.
After they finished eating, Elle went upstairs to finish the homework she still had left.
Harry glanced at the time on his phone and stood up.
"I think I should go."
Louis looked up.
"Already?"
The alpha seemed surprised by the question.
"Yeah… I don’t want to bother you."
"You’re not bothering me."
The words came out before Louis could think about them. He knew exactly who was speaking for him and how difficult it was to keep it under control.
Harry stayed still.
Louis lowered his gaze, playing with his fingers.
"You can stay a little longer, if you want. Of course."
For a few seconds, Harry simply stared at him.
Then he smiled.
"I’d like that."
They moved back to the couch, this time sitting closer than before, their knees brushing against each other.
"Why haven’t you gotten rid of that lamp?" Harry pointed toward the lamp in the corner, making a face.
"It was a gift from your parents. I can’t just throw it away."
"Of course you can. We have plenty of gifts from them. I don’t think getting rid of an ugly lamp would be a crime."
"It would be. It’s still a gift."
"If my parents had given it to us, it wouldn’t have existed for years."
"Because my parents hated us."
Harry let out a small laugh.
"Why could that be?"
Louis smiled.
"They thought I would drop out of college, get pregnant, and end up on the streets."
"They got the second part right."
"Yeah."
They both laughed softly.
"They were convinced we wouldn’t last and that you’d come back to them regretting everything."
"I knew perfectly well that I was on the right path." Louis smiled nostalgically.
They had been so young.
They had been full of dreams and hopes, believing that love could overcome anything.
"We hadn’t even been married for a year, and you were already asking me to marry you."
"And you cried."
"Because you gave me an ugly ring, and it didn’t even fit properly."
The alpha opened his mouth, pretending to be offended.
"I bought it with a lot of effort."
"You bought the first one you found."
"That’s not… okay, maybe that’s a little true."
Louis burst into laughter, and Harry’s eyes lit up at the sight.
For a moment, they got lost in their memories, the most precious ones they still held onto.
"Our children would laugh at us if they knew the whole story."
"They would think we’re pathetic, and they’d be right."
"Elle would call us ridiculous, that’s for sure. And Julian… Julian was more sentimental. He would have been a romantic and he would have understood us."
"He looked a lot like you."
"He had your hair."
"And your nose."
Both of them had tears shining in their eyes.
"Our little pup… he was perfect."
Louis lowered his head, his voice barely above a whisper.
"You’re an amazing father."
Harry took his hand, moving closer.
"I’ve made a lot of mistakes, but choosing you as the mother of my children isn’t one of them. You’re the best mom, the best omega who could have ever come into my life. There’s no one like you, and there never will be."
He kissed the back of Louis’ hand, then gently took his chin and made him look at him.
They were close.
Too close.
The pain they carried was reflected in their wounded eyes. Their entire story, every moment of suffering they had endured, was written there in the place where they had once learned what love and absolute happiness felt like.
And yes, they would never be the same again.
Because both of them had given a piece of their hearts to create a new one, and when it was gone, it left behind a void that nothing could ever replace.
Louis kept staring at Harry, feeling every word the alpha said breaking through all the walls he had built around himself.
He had tried to convince himself that things were different now, that they had lost too much and there was no way to recover what they once had.
And yet, Harry was there.
Harry was still there.
Tears spilled down Louis’ face before he could stop them. Harry lifted a hand and gently wiped one away, and that small gesture was enough to make his omega finally step out of the shadows.
Louis closed his eyes when Harry leaned closer, and their lips found each other again.
They kissed through their tears, the pain of all the years they had spent apart blending with the longing that had never completely disappeared.
When they pulled away, their foreheads rested together, the tips of their noses brushing.
"Come back to me, Louis. Please."
Their bodies trembled. They opened their eyes at the same time, and then the fear came rushing in.
Fear of breaking even more than they already had.
Fear of losing everything.
Fear of what had happened that afternoon, while Julian had been sitting in the back seat of the car and Louis was driving.
"I... I can’t. I can’t."
He left the alpha with nothing else, rushed upstairs, and locked himself inside his room.
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The days passed on autopilot.
Louis and Harry never talked about what had happened that night again. In fact, the trust they had started rebuilding seemed to disappear.
They were still kind to each other. They greeted one another whenever they crossed paths, but they no longer tried to start conversations.
They had gone back to where they started.
One afternoon, after doing the weekly grocery shopping, Louis arrived home carrying several bags in his hands.
"Elle?" he called for his daughter so she could help him put the groceries away.
There was no answer.
He assumed she was probably in her room, until he reached the dining room and found her sitting at the table surrounded by photo albums.
"What are you doing, pup?"
Elle didn’t take her eyes away from a picture.
"I have to do an assignment about my childhood. My teacher asked us to bring photos and talk about what we were like when we were little."
Louis sat down beside her.
"Did you find a good picture?"
"I found a lot."
Together, they started turning the pages.
Baby Elle in Louis’ arms while he fed her a bottle. Harry smiling as he held Julian. Trips to the park, birthdays, vacations.
Random moments that now carried so much more meaning.
Louis wanted to frame every picture they came across.
"You used to try to eat everything you saw," he said, pointing at a photo where a tiny Elle had a giant stuffed dog toy in her mouth.
"Dad says I was just like him."
"You were."
Elle let out a small laugh.
They continued turning pages until they reached photos where all four of them appeared together.
Their family.
Elle traced one of the pictures with her fingertips.
"I miss this."
Louis looked at her.
"What?"
His daughter took a few seconds before answering.
"When we used to live together."
Louis felt the words hit him like a punch.
"I miss when Dad came home from work and we had dinner together. When we went everywhere together."
"I miss some of those things too."
Elle slowly closed the album, and Louis watched a tear slide down her cheek.
Later, when the house was once again dark and completely silent, Louis found himself walking toward Julian’s room.
His feet carried him to a door he had spent a long time avoiding.
Julian’s room.
He slowly opened it.
Everything was still the same.
The carefully kept belongings, the memories he had never dared to move, the feeling that a part of his life had remained trapped inside those walls.
Louis stepped in and sat on the bed.
For a moment, he simply looked around.
He had spent so much time trying to survive the pain that he had forgotten something important.
He hadn’t only lost his son.
He had also lost the life they used to have.
The family they had been.
By then, he was already crying.
"I don’t know what to do, Julian..." His voice broke.
Louis covered his face as he cried silently.
He had believed that going back to Harry meant returning to the past, but maybe it wasn’t about that.
Maybe they couldn’t become who they used to be again because they had changed.
Because they had gone through something they would never fully recover from.
But that didn’t mean they couldn’t stand back up and keep going.
Louis looked at a photograph sitting on the nightstand.
The four of them smiling.
He took a deep breath, wiping away his tears. The fear was still there, but it no longer weakened him.
He didn’t want to keep running away.
Because at the end of the day, no matter how much he tried to deny it, his heart kept choosing the same place.
Harry.
Louis slowly stood up and left the room.
This time, he didn’t feel like he was doing the wrong thing.
He felt like he was honoring everything his son had always wanted for them.
A happy family.