Louis P.O.V –

I sat in a court room, dressed in my best suit. Zayn sat next to me with his hand on my shoulder.

"Hey." He said. "It will be okay. You've raised her since she was born. A judge won't take her away from you."

"You don't know that." I said panicked. "Z I can't lose my little girl. I can't."

"ALL RISE" The bailiff shouted.

We all stood up as the Judge took her seat. I glanced over at Harry and he had a blank expression on his face.

"You may be seated." The Judge said. "Now that I have heard all of the arguments, I must address the defendant." She turned to me. "Mr. Tomlinson, I cannot help but think that you did not have the best interest of your child at heart in this matter. You kept her away from her own father, for what? So you didn't have to share?"

I wanted to interrupt but I knew that wouldn't help my case at all. I felt my heart drop when she continued.

"Taking this into consideration, I hereby grant soul legal custody of Kayden Anne Tomlinson to the plaintiff, Harry Styles. This court is adjourned."

I watched as Harry's face lit up in a grin, while my eyes filled with tears. No. This wasn't happening. I watched as Harry went over and picked up Kayden.

"DADDY! DON'T LET HIM TAKE ME!" She yelled, but no one seemed to listen.

"KAYDEN!" I yelled back.

"DADDY!" She tried again but he just continued to carry her out of the courtroom.

"DADDY!" I woke up with a gasp to find Kayden standing at the side of my bed. "Daddy are you okay?! You were yelling for me in your sleep." The look on her face was full of concern.

I simply grabbed my daughter and cuddled her close. "Yeah princess. Daddy is fine. Just a bad dream, is all." I assured her.

I took deep breaths and just kept telling myself that it was just a nightmare. But the thing was, it may not be. If I don't allow Harry in her life, he said he would take me to court. I couldn't allow that to happen. I would die without my baby girl.

I grabbed my phone and noticed there was an unread text on it.

this may sound funny and slightly ridiculous... but what is her name?

Kayden

I answered it simply. A part of me was glad that he wanted to know about her. I don't really know how I would feel if he found out about her but just didn't care. But I also knew how messy this could be. I knew I had to take this at a very slow pace in order to not risk K getting hurt.

Later that day I called Lottie.

"What's up Lou?" She asked upon answering.

"Can you come watch Kayden for a little bit?" I asked simply.

"Yeah sure." She answered. "Everything okay?"

"Not really. Harry came by last night." I said in a whisper, not wanting Kayden to hear.

"HE WHAT?!" She shouted through the phone.

"Look, I really don't want to get into it right now." I said. "Can you please just come watch Kayden for me?"

She sighed. "Yeah, I'll be over in a minute."

I thanked her and hung up the phone. I opened up my text messages again and sent a text to Harry.

can we meet up to talk?

His reply came almost instantly.

yeah of course... where would you like to meet?

are you still in the area?

yeah... I stayed at the Waterton Park Hotel

I was somewhat surprised he stayed around, but then again he knew we were going to be talking the next day, so I guess it made sense. I thought about going to his hotel room but I decided that wouldn't be a good idea. I needed public so it didn't become a huge argument.

do you want to meet me at esquire's coffee? say in about an hour?

I'll be there.

I pocketed my phone and went upstairs to find Kayden. She was sitting in her room playing with a couple of barbies. I sat down on her bed next to her.

"Hey Kayds, Aunt Lottie is going to come watch you for a little bit." I told her. "I have something I have to go do for a bit."

She looked up at me and climbed into my lap. "Can't I come with you Daddy?" She asked sweetly.

"I'm sorry sweetheart." I said, kissing her forehead. "I wish you could but this is something Daddy has to do alone." I explained.

She nodded her head and kissed my cheek. She climbed off my lap and went back to playing barbies. I went into my room to get changed and fix my hair. I really didn't want to look like the train wreck that I felt like. After I finished getting ready, I went down to make a cup of tea to calm my nerves. After my cup of tea was made I heard Lottie knock on the door.

"Come in!" I shouted from the kitchen.

Lottie came in the door and I heard Kayden run down the stairs. "HI AUNT LOTTIE!" She yelled excitedly.

"Hi babes! I came to play with you for a little bit!" Lottie told her.

"Will you play barbies with me?" Kayden asked.

"Of course sweetie. Let me just talk to your dad really quick and I'll meet you up there okay?"

Kayden must have nodded because I heard her run back up the stairs and Lottie came into the kitchen, grabbing the kettle to make her own cup of tea.

"Thanks for coming Lotts." I told her.

"Of course Lou. Are you okay though?" She asked concerned.

"I'm scared." I shrugged. "I don't want Kayden to get hurt in this." I explained.

Lottie nodded in understanding. "Do you know what you're going to do yet?" She questioned.

I shook my head. "I'm going to see if we can come to some kind of agreement." I answered. "I can't exactly keep her from him because he will only take me to court. But I'm hoping that he will understand I have her best interest at heart and will agree with me that he can't just jump into her life and be her father." I explained.

Lottie looked like she was about to say something but we heard a voice coming from upstairs that sounded pretty impatient. "AUNT LOTTIE! COME ON!" Kayden shouted. We both chuckled.

"You better get up there." I said through a laugh.

She nodded and gave me a quick hug. "Call me if you need anything." She whispered in my ear.

I thanked her and she went up the stairs. I grabbed my cell phone, wallet, and car keys and headed out the door. I got in the car and started heading towards esquire's. The whole way over I could not sit still. I was a jittery mess. When I pulled up, I could see Harry already sitting inside through the window. It amazed me how he could look so calm despite everything. I took a deep breath and went inside the coffee house.