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

She's Leaving Home

Harry's P.O.V. Charlie 18, Sophia 9, Avery 6

Late July 2039

"Say bye to your sister too, please," I whisper to my youngest children.

"Bye Charlie," Soph hugs her sister, Charlie latching on just as tight. "I'll miss you."

"I'll miss you too," Charlie says back. "Take care of Avery."

"I will, I promise. I love you."

"I love you too."

I hug and kiss Soph one more time before she gets in the car, and now it's Avery's turn to say by to his sister.

Instead of hugging him like she did Soph, Charlie picks Avery up and holds him close her.

"I love you so much, buddy," she whispers to him, desperately trying not to cry in front of her six-year-old brother. "You're going to have so much fun in first grade, and I'll FaceTime you all the time so you can tell me about it."

"I love you too, sissy," Avery's arms cling tight around Charlie's neck as she kisses the side of his head a few times. "I'm gonna miss you," he says.

"I miss you already," she whispers and tells him she loves him one last time before setting him down.

I help Avery get into the car and stay with him and Soph until Em is back from saying her goodbyes to Charlie.

The five of us spent the summer in London but now it's time for the youngest to go back to school in California. Charlie will be attending the Royal College of Music here in London, so I'm staying with her until she moves in. It's sad to see her have to say goodbye to everyone so early, but I'm excited to have some one-on-one time with Charlie before she goes to university.

I kiss my youngest children goodbye again when Em comes back to the car, and then hug and kiss her and tell her it'll be okay as well. Em has tears in her eyes, but I know she'll hold them in until she's not around the kids.

They drive off towards the airport, and now it's just Charlie and I alone in this house for the next three weeks.

"How ya feeling?" I put my arm around her shoulders as we watch the car get smaller and smaller.

"Sad," Charlie breathes, "but I know it'll be alright. It's just hard leaving them because they're so young."

"They understand," I tell her, "You're their cooler older sister who gets to stay in London to play music," I try to cheer her up. "Want to finally show me what you submitted as your audition?"

"Sure," Charlie agrees, and it honestly surprises me. She refused to practice in front of any of us for her audition. Her concentration in school is songwriting, so she composed an original score for her audition and then had an interview to discuss her work.

I'm immensely proud of her for all of her accomplishments. I never forced her or asked her to follow in my steps of being a musician, but it does make me happy to share something so personal with her. Honestly, she doesn't need to go to school for music to make it her career, but I respect her wanting to continue learning in an academic and professional setting. The Royal College of Music is a prestigious school after all.

We walk back inside, and I follow Charlie until she sits at the baby grand we purchased for the house when she first got serious about piano. I also thought it would inspire me to learn more, because I'm very jealous of her skills, but I still only know the basics.

"I can play the main piano part for you now, but I'll have to play the file from my computer afterwards, so you get the whole experience with the strings and percussion," she tells me and then turns to face the piano, sitting up straight with impeccable posture (once again, I'm jealous), and places her fingers on the keys.

Watching Charlie play has always made me emotional but listening to this piece brings a flood of tears to my eyes. She's so incredibly talented, more than myself, and I can't wait until she makes this into a career. All of her hard work and dedication has paid off and she's well on her way to making a successful career in music. Who knows, maybe a few years down the road she'll be inviting me as her date to the Grammys.

When the song comes to an end, I see her physically relax before looking at me for reassurance, but I bet I just look like a sap.

"That was beautiful, I don't know if I can even handle hearing the entire piece. I'm so, so proud of you," I tell Charlie and she moves to the end of the bench to hug me.

"Thank you," she says quietly.

"Darling, you have nothing to thank me for. I'm just telling you the truth."

"No, for everything. Thank you for sharing your passion for music with me. I genuinely would not be where I am if it weren't for your continuous support and inspiration," I'm full-on crying by the end of Charlie's short speech.

"You're the one that did all the work," I tell her, "you were always fascinated with music, ever since you were a baby. I remember the first time it really hit me that my music had an impact on you. Remember when I caught you learning Falling on the piano and you recorded all those different vocal parts? You even changed the lyrics to fit what you were feeling at the time."

"I was so embarrassed when you walked in," she laughed.

"I loved it," I smile at the memory. I need to find that file again, I haven't listened to in a while. Charlie doesn't know I saved it, but I've copied a lot of what she's recorded onto my personal computer. I like to listen to them when I'm away from her, so those are probably the only songs I'll be listening to once she leaves for college.

***

Mid-August 2039

"Do you need me for anything else? We can run to the store, or if you're hungry-"

"No, Dad," she chuckles, "I'm fine. I have everything I need. I'm going to be okay."

I know she'll be fine; I'm just procrastinating leaving her. I stayed to help her move everything into her room at the residence hall, but now there's nothing left for me to help unpack.

"So," I take a deep breath, "I guess I'll get going then."

"Yeah," Charlie says, and I wrap my arms around her in a tight embrace.

"Don't cry," she says, beginning to sniffle herself.

"That's exactly what you told me on your first day of kindergarten," I remember, and it just makes me cry harder. "I was so reluctant to let you go to school. I kept asking your mum if we could hold you back. I didn't want my baby to grow up and not need me anymore."

"I'll still need you, Dad. Always," she tells me.

"I love you,"

"To the moon and back," she repeats.

"And even further than that."

THE END!

I hope u all enjoyed this story :')

I'm currently working on another fanfic!!! Idk when it will be ready but I will keep you guys posted via WHOB and CRS.

I love you all so much and THANK YOU again for reading,

J.L. <3