Charlie Robin Styles [Addition to We're Having Our Baby]

She's So American

Harry's P.O.V. Charlie 10, Sophia 10 months

"Who's here?" I ask Em when I hear footsteps running upstairs and see the extra pairs of shoes at the front door.

"Hailey and Ben. Charlie's been asking all week to invite them over to play with chalk. They've only been playing in her room for a little bit. I told them to wait until you got home and parked in the garage to go to the driveway," she tells me, handing me our youngest daughter to hold.

"Hi Princess," I coo at our daughter and give her a big kiss on the cheek, "Want to come upstairs with me to say hi to Charlie and her crazy friends?" Sophia just smiles and babbles a bit before cuddling into my shoulder.

"I missed you too, Soph," I squeeze her a little tighter and give Em a quick peck as I walk past her and up to Charlie's room.

The door is open, meaning the loud giggles that are escaping can be heard all throughout the house. I knock on the doorframe to let them know I'm there since they're too involved in whatever it is they're playing to notice my presence.

"Oh, hi Dad!"

What! Dad? Who's Dad?

"Hi," I try to act like Charlie didn't just break my heart, "You guys can play outside now," I tell them, and have to hurry out of their way as the three of them don't even stop to say 'hi' or 'excuse me'. They just run right past me and down the stairs to put their shoes on.

"Sometimes I wish Charlie was your size again, Sophia," I sigh and start my walk back down the stairs again.

"They sure were happy to see you," Em says, cleaning up the remainder of the kids' after-school snack.

"No, they just couldn't wait to go outside. Charlie barely said hi to me, but that's not even the worst part," I say as I adjust Sophia on my hip.

"Charlie called me dad," I tell her.

"Like, to your face?" Em asks which possibly makes it hurt worse. I don't want my Charlie-bean to grow up, she's already in her double digits as of a few months ago.

"Yeah, she said, 'Oh, hi Dad,' like it was nothing," I pout.

"You're kind of pathetic, Harry."

"Excuse you! My little sunflower is growing into a big sunflower! I'm allowed to be sappy, aren't I Soph?" I look to my other daughter for some assistance. Just as Em is about to say something, Charlie and her friends come running into the kitchen from the garage.

"Mom! Can we have some popsicles please?" Haha, how does it feel now, Em?

But in all seriousness, first she called me Dad instead of Daddy—okay, I guess that was going to happen eventually. But now she's calling Em Mom instead of Mummy? Not even Mum! And what the hell is a popsicle! We call them ice lollies in the Styles house!

"Um, yeah that's fine. What colors do you want?" Em asks and opens the freezer to find the ice lollies we bought at the store.

"Ben and I want a red one, please," Charlie says.

"I'll have green please, Mrs. Styles," Hailey asks politely and Em hands them the plastic-wrapped ice lollies.

"Thank you!" they all say as they throw away the papers and go back outside.

"What the hell was that?" Em turns to me once they've left, "Did she call me Mom?" I can't help but laugh at Em's reaction.

"And she called the ice lollies, popsicles," I point out.

"Well, I'm assuming her friends wouldn't know what an ice lolly is, but mom? She always calls me Mummy, at least she could have called me Mum. Do you think she's trying to fit in with her friends?"

"Perhaps. I have noticed that she talks with more of a Californian accent when she's with her friends. Do you think she'll develop two accents or is my daughter just going to turn full-American? God, I hope not."

"Hey, I'm American!"

"True, and I love you, but my children will not be."