One more December had arrived in London, and like most, the snow painted the ground a beautiful white, as did all the trees and pines that surrounded Icarus Rose's house.

That year the famous meeting organised by the Malik family would be a little more intimate because it would be the first in which the Malik twins would be, in addition to the fact that they had invited the Styles', Tomlinson's and the Mendes' to make the official announcement of Shawn's pregnancy .

All the guests were at their respective tables enjoying warm conversations about the good things he had brought that year, they were grateful that his ties with Icarus Rose were still standing, and they hoped that next year they will be strengthened more than ever with new investments.

The sound of a guard standing next to Niall and Shawn hitting a glass with a knife drew everyone's attention, and with a nod from Horan the alpha withdrew, leaving them alone.

"Good evening and thanks for coming, we know that most of you travel from regions quite far from here and we are happy that regardless of the distance you continue to attend our traditional dinner to celebrate Christmas and say goodbye to this great year" Niall said with a smile. warm tone while holding a glass of wine in his hands. "My husband and I wanted to take this opportunity to give thanks for all the good things that life has brought us, such as the birth of my two nephews and heirs to Icarus Rose," he said with a gesture to Liam and Zayn who were holding their babies with huge smiles on their faces, "the beautiful baby that is on the way, to Mr. Tomlinson and his omega, who will make me uncle again." Harry and Louis gave him a smile from the back tables, "my wedding to the most beautiful omega ever," everyone laughed, "my brother's wedding just a month ago and..." He looked at Shawn with a spark in his eyes that no one could describe even if they tried to. He passed his hand around the omega's waist and returned his gaze to the guests. "The greatest gift my omega has given me, a puppy that we hope to meet at the end of May."

The applause and shouts of congratulations were present throughout the place, causing the omega's eyes to fill with water and then hide his face in his alpha's neck.

Shawn's belly had just begun to show, his first four months had just passed, and the doctor had stated that it was safe to report the pregnancy as there was no longer any risk of miscarriage. The couple couldn't be happier.

The celebration continued with dinner, which was served around eight o'clock and after this each one of the heads of Icarus Rose, next to their partners, set out to talk with some of the partners; Niall and Shawn were with some partners from Russia, talking about the future contracts they hoped to sign once the new year arrives; Zayn and Liam were with partners from China about a possible expansion of territories; and finally Harry and Louis were talking about River Tomlinson possibly being baptised in the Vatican with some associates from Italy.

"Ti piacerebbe venire a casa nostra ad Atene quando nasce la tua bambina?" (Would you like to come to our home in Athens when your baby girl is born?) Asked one of the partners, Louis looked at Harry with a smile.

"Ci piacerebbe, apprezziamo il tuo invito, siamo sicuri che il tempo è molto meglio in estate." (We would love to, we appreciate your invitation, we are sure the weather is much better in summer.) Replied Louis cheerfully.

"Dovresti andare in Nuova Zelanda nella vigna di mio marito, ti assicuro che sarà uno dei migliori vini che tu abbia mai assaggiato." (You should go to New Zealand to my husband's vineyard, I assure you it will be one of the best wines you have ever tasted.) Added Harry and everyone laughed.

The conversation continued cheerfully, the partners asked Harry various questions about his pregnancy and about his perfect Italian, as it had taken them by surprise and the omega proudly replied that he had learned it at university and that he had always been a big fan of the Italian language and territory.

And then a slight discomfort in the omega's lower abdomen made him distract himself a bit from the story Mr. Arezzo was telling.

"Are you okay?" Louis asked, to which the omega nodded and tried to fake a smile.

The pain had been momentary, maybe it was a cramp or probably the baby had decided to change the position she was in for a more comfortable one, in any case Harry kept trying to pay attention to what the alpha was saying in front of him with her husband.

But it didn't take more than ten minutes for another pinch of pain to appear, this one a bit more intense, though nothing Harry couldn't control. He clenched his fist tightly and placed his other hand under his belly in an attempt to ease the pain, but then again, the pain returned.

"Ah!" He said unable to contain his groan, the alpha's gaze immediately went to him with concern.

"Love?" He turned his body a little to get a better look at him, "what's wrong?"

"Nothing, nothing...I..." The pain became more intense than ever, causing Harry to scramble to his feet.

"Harry, are you okay?" The blue-eyed man got up and grabbed Harry to prevent him from falling.

"Lou...yeah, it's just..." his eyes widened suddenly as he felt liquid run down his legs.

"Love...did you...umm...?"

"No!" he exclaimed nervously.

A certain aroma began to be present in the room, causing the eyes of all the guests to go to the standing couple.

And another pain was present, this time even stronger, making this time Harry unable to hold back the scream of pain that had been created in his throat.

"Honey, I think it's time to..."

"Louis, the baby is coming!" He interrupted him with a yell.

All the guests looked at them from their tables, only the closest family dared to approach Harry and Louis, Jane rubbed his back and Lillibeth tried to reassure him with words of encouragement. Barbara caught the attention of the guests by tapping on a glass with a spoon.

"We are sorry for this interruption, but Mr. Tomlinson has just gone into labour," informed the omega somewhat excited. "The meeting has come to an end, we hope that next year everything will continue as well or better in business, thank you very much for attending."

The partners were vacating the house one by one, Harry had already been taken from the ballroom to go to his room, the doctor who was going to treat him was not at home and it was well known that the omegas needed a quiet place while they were in labour. .

"The doctor doesn't answer" Zayn growled once they were in the Tomlinson-Styles' room, Harry was sitting in one of the armchairs with Louis next to him, holding his hand at all times.

"I can help, I'm a midwife," Diana said entering the room, at that moment, for Harry, Mrs. Mendes was his salvation. "Do you have a big bathtub?"

"The back door," Louis indicated, and Diana nodded, rolling up the sleeves of her dress.

"I need Louis to fill the tub a bit, then Harry is going to get in there, I'm going to check his dilation," she began to instruct and Louis helped his omega up to go to the bathroom. "I just need the omegas to stay, and outside the bathroom, the only alpha that can be in contact with Harry is Louis.

The room emptied instantly, only the mothers, Zayn and Shawn were waiting, Louis was already helping Harry to sit in the bathtub, he was already naked from the waist down, squeezing his alpha's hand.

"Alpha, I'm not going to make it, it hurts so much." Harry sobbed, squeezing his eyes shut, Louis kissed his head.

"You can do this, omega, you're the strongest man I've ever known, you can handle this and more." He whispered in his ear, still leaving kisses all over his face to try to soothe his pain.

Diana entered the bathroom and knelt in front of the omega, not caring if she got her party dress wet.

"I'm going to check your dilation," the omega warned before putting her hand between his legs, she widened her eyes in surprise. "Harry, you're already nine centimetres dilated."

"And how much does he have to dilate?"

"Ten." She answered in amazement, she moved away from between the omega's legs and looked at the alpha. "Louis, you are going to receive the baby."

The alpha looked at her and the room began to smell of his nerves, Harry couldn't even speak anymore due to the pain he was feeling.

"But...I don't know what to do," he stammered before a piercing scream from Harry interrupted them.

"I'm going to instruct you, move yourself to where I am." Louis nodded and moved, staying between his omega's legs. "Okay, I think I can see the little head, put your hand there," she pointed to the omega's entrance and Louis obeyed.

"You're doing excellent, omega." Louis encouraged, Harry looked at him in disbelief.

"I'm still not doing anything, you stupid alpha!" He yelled as best he could and threw his head back.

"I think it's coming, Harry, I need you to start pushing, Louis, you keep your hand there, once the head comes out you're going to pull the baby a bit, not too much because you can hurt her, when the torso comes out we already have it." Louis nodded and Harry began to push.

Harry sobbed every time he stopped pushing, he felt like he was being ripped from the inside out, he squeezed Diana's hand with all his might.

"She's almost out," Diana warned with a smile, Harry kept pushing.

"Okay, love, we've got it, we're almost there," Louis encouraged, his hand holding his little girl's head.

And when Harry thought he couldn't take it anymore, tears filled the room, covering the sounds of pain from himself, who only managed to smile.

Louis helped her baby out of him with the utmost care, and when he finally held her against his chest, he fell in love for the second time.

On December 12, little River Tomlinson had already come into the world.

☺☻☺☻

Christmas had come to Icarus Rose's house, and as usual everyone had gathered in the huge mansion to spend the Malik twins' first Christmas as well as River Tomlinson's. They had all opened their presents in the morning while drinking hot chocolate some omegas had made and enjoying a nice day off work.

Liam was spending time next to his two children in the living room of the house, enjoying the warmth that the fireplace gave them. Blair was wearing a beautiful little pink suit that Harry had given her and Blake was wearing a pink-black suit that Louis had given him, although everyone knew that Harry had chosen them.

"Look, Santa brought us gifts!" Liam said when he saw how Harry entered with little River in his arms, covered by only a blue blanket knitted by Lillibeth just a few days ago. The omega sat on the floor in front of the twins, who remained in the chair because they were just beginning to sit down with the help of their father.

"Well, Rivie and I wanted her cousins to get to know her, and now that they're not doing anything I thought this would be the opportunity," he got on his knees in front of the five-month-old babies and laid River down on her legs, being very careful not to hurt anybody.

"Look, beautiful, she's Rivie's cousin." Liam commented as he crouched down a little, "give her a little kiss on the forehead, come on, but be very careful."

The twins began to babble about some things that maybe only Liam was capable of understanding and they bent down one by one to give little River a "kiss".

"Dad!" Blair stammered looking at her alpha dad with a small smirk, Liam squealed with excitement. Harry in turn gave a small laugh at the alpha's reaction.

"From what I see you were the first" he said and Liam nodded effusively.

"Wait until Zayn finds out about this, he's going to go crazy." They both laughed and kept looking at their children as they talked about the gifts they had opened that morning.

Zayn was walking down the hall with a folder in his left hand and a pen in his right. There were some things to solve before the new year arrived and the omega wanted to take advantage of all the free time he had, and thanks to Liam's support with the babies he only had to have his brothers sign a sheet to finally close the files for that year and be able to start with the next one.

He entered the room to find that beautiful scene, his alpha taking care of her little puppies while they laughed at the slight movements that River made with her little hands.

"Zayn!" Liam exclaimed with a grin, "you're not going to believe me, but Blair said 'dad' to me." He raised both eyebrows playfully and Zayn's mouth dropped open in surprise.

"WHAT!?"

"Da! "Blake yelled when he saw that his father was in the room and everyone looked at him surprised.

"What did you say?" Zayn questioned softly.

"Da!" Blake yelled again. "Da...Da da da da da," the little cub kept repeating and Liam burst out laughing.

"Not a word Liam, let me enjoy this." Zayn said as he pointed the pen at him and the alpha raised his hands in front of his chest showing innocence.

Some steps began to be heard rapidly approaching the room but everyone was too focused on the little twins who were beginning to say their first words.

"What the hell is wrong with you!?" Zayn yelled as he felt Niall crash into him.

"Zayn!" Liam exclaimed. "Don't use that language in front of the kids, especially now that they're starting to talk."

"Sorry, sorry" after saying that he turned to Niall and pushed him away from him.

"What are you all doing here? NO! Wait! I have the best idea in life, don't move!" Said that, he ran towards the corridor he came from.

The alpha ran throughout the house until he reached the fourth floor where he kept a guitar that his father had bought for him when they were younger thanks to one of the many tantrums he threw. After taking it, he went down all the stairs again until he was behind Zayn again, he crouched down a bit, holding himself on his knees trying to catch his breath, because although Niall was in good physical condition, running around the house was a tiring task.

Without thinking about it too much Niall brought a chair and placed it in front of the chair and sat in it, the huge Christmas pine decorated one of the corners of the room and the small lights of different colours illuminated part of the room.

"Ever since I was little..." He began while playing some slow chords on the guitar, "he dreamed that one day we would all be together for some reason," the chords began to turn into a melody as his words fell from his lips, "but we would all be Happy together."

"Little NIall ran through the corridors of his house in the direction of Mr. Malik's room. He had no idea why they had called him, but he knew full well that he hadn't done anything wrong, and if he had, his father wouldn't scold him for it, he never did.

He knocked on the wood of the door three times and waited for a "pass" from the other side before opening it; His parents' room was huge, the biggest in the entire mansion, usually they weren't allowed to go in there, because his father didn't like them playing with his things since they could get hurt.

"Hello," he said in a cheerful voice as he reached over to give his father a hug.

"Hello little one, how are you today?" Kasper asked with a calm voice and a slight smile on his face.

"I'm happy, as always" little Niall showed him his teeth with a smile.

That little boy always made him smile.

"I'm glad you're always happy, son. I wanted you to come here because I was told that you are showing certain musical skills in your guitar lessons, is that true?" Niall's eyes twinkled at his father's words.

"Yes! Yes! I'm doing very well in my classes. My teacher says that I can become a famous composer when I grow up!" Kasper laughed a little and patted his son's back.

"You can make your future whatever you like," he said and started walking to a door in his room, opened it and entered a small closet where there was a shelf full of vinyl records from different artists. .

Niall followed him without saying anything, his curious eyes lighting up at all the albums of famous artists that he had seen on his phone that he never thought he would see in real life. Kasper pulled a huge record from one of the shelves and placed it on his turntable and positioned the pick in a specific spot on the vinyl, and once he dropped it, the melody began to fill Niall's ears.

"This is one of my favourite songs, I would like you to learn it for me." He said with that warmth in his voice that he only came out when he was accompanied by his sons.

The music filled Niall's ears, he immediately began to identify the chords he needed to play that song, he focused on the words he was saying and it immediately became his favourite song too.

"You know son," Kasper started as he walked over to his bed. Niall was watching him from the closet door with his head tilted slightly to the side, "when Zayn was born it was one of the best days of my life, feeling like I was going to be a father for the first time in my life was fantastic. Zayn then presented as omega and..." little tears fell down his cheeks and Niall's brow furrowed, was his father sad? Did it make you sad to think that Zayn was an omega? "Well, I was shocked at first, but after I was able to digest the news my inner alpha came out to defend my little omega, my first child."

His gaze remained fixed on the ground after those words that little Niall was most likely not going to remember. He wiped the tears from his face and smiled like he had never done before in front of anyone but his wife.

"And after a few years of trying to make the family bigger without success..." he looked up at the little alpha who kept looking at him curiously. "You and your older brother arrived," Niall smiled. "On the way back home, the light that made me able to see even in the darkest place, made me the happiest man in the world for the second time... and although I don't show it too much, I want you to be clear that there is nothing more important to me in this world than my sons...Zayn...Louis...and my little Niall."

He settled the guitar well on his leg and without stopping playing that melody he cleared his throat from that knot that was beginning to form thanks to that memory of his childhood. He began to sing those words that he remembered so clearly since he was little, the lyrics of his father's favourite song.

Zayn walked over to the couch and sat down next to Liam, resting his head on his shoulder and keeping his gaze fixed on his younger brother. Harry smiled as his eyes turned crystal clear, he was happy to be a part of such a cosy and familiar moment.

If they say why (why?), why (why?)

Tell them that it's human nature

Why (why?), why (why?), does he do me that way?

If they say why (why?), why (why?)

Tell them that it's human nature

Why (why?), why (why?), does he do me that way

Louis was walking through the corridors of the house with several papers in his hands, when he heard that melody that he immediately identified, he smiled and leaned against the door frame, admiring his family, his little River leaning on the legs of his nephews ; then he looked at Harry and couldn't help but smile. He approached the chair and sat on the floor next to his omega, took his hand and intertwined his fingers while listening to Niall's beautiful voice accompanied by a beautiful melody.

And in the distance, across the room, was Shawn. Tears threatened to fall from his eyes, he never thought that Niall could sing, but that was not what surprised him or gave him so much happiness, it was he who would be the father of his children, the one who would raise them and teach them to play the guitar just like he does, and he couldn't be more proud of his husband, his alpha.

He walked over to Niall and sat on the ground next to him, stroking his barely noticeable belly, and his omega was jumping with happiness just thinking that he had a piece of that talented alpha inside him, so good, he was going to be with him all their lives and they were going to raise a little boy or girl just as strong as them.

Niall's melodious voice continued to ring and delight all the people in the house who were around, from omegas who were passing by to do their homework, to the guards who were watching over that area of the house. And at the end of the song, everyone was silent, with only the sound of the fire in the fireplace in the background.

"Dad's favourite song." Zayn managed to murmur, Niall nodded.

"And I want to take this moment to remind you how much I love you, we may not share blood, but you have always been and will be my brothers." Niall said with his voice on the verge of breaking, his emotions still running high. My omega, I want to give you a gift.

The alpha snapped his fingers and an omega ran towards him, with a small pastel pink box in her hands, she handed it to Niall and he stood in front of Shawn, who was still holding his belly.

It was a custom of the omega to always have his hands glued to the place where his cub was.

Niall opened the box and inside it was revealed a necklace with an amethyst, its colour seemed to be a gradient from purple to lilac, it was beautiful.

"I want you to always wear this around your neck, as a symbol of our love and love for our family, the stone is small, but all great things start like this," he took the necklace out of the box and put it around Shawn's neck, who couldn't stop smiling. Niall snapped his fingers again and the omega returned to take the box. "Promise me that you will take care of it with your soul."

"I promise." Shawn replied, and to seal the promise they gave each other a soft kiss.

☺☻☺☻

January flew by and they had barely blinked by the time it was February, the clock indicated that it was three in the morning, River had already fallen asleep again a while ago and Harry just enjoyed lying on his alpha's chest, waiting for the knot to finish coming down. Neither spoke, they simply enjoyed being wrapped in each other's warmth and scent.

"Do you want to do something crazy?" Louis asked suddenly, still wrapping his omega in his arms, Harry lifted his face and looked at him, his curls tickling the alpha's chest.

"What do you want to do?" Harry replied, the alpha still not looking at him.

"We have to get married tomorrow," he blurted out, Harry frowned.

"Tomorrow? But we haven't planned anything, we don't have a cake, no invitations, nothing" he exclaimed confused, Louis smiled.

"We don't need any of that, the wedding is for us, I told you once, I don't need anyone or anything else if I have you," he finally looked at the omega, he was smiling too. "We have all the people we want here, your mother, your sister, my brothers, my mother, my sisters, Barbara," he started stroking Harry's hair lovingly. " What do you say?"

Harry thought about it for a few seconds, although he didn't even have to think about it at all, marrying Louis was something he longed for so much, and seeing that precious ring on his finger was his reminder that every day was one less to finally marry him. And it was true, they had close to all the people they wanted for that moment, their family.

"I do," he finally answered, a little quiet but his alpha heard him perfectly, Louis kissed him sweetly.

The knot finished lowering and the alpha reached for his phone, almost laying on top of Harry but holding all his weight on his left arm so as not to crush the curly, he smiled at him before dialling one of the house workers who was helping them with that kind of stuff.

"I need the judge to be here by noon tomorrow with a marriage certificate," Louis ordered, the soft murmur of the person on the other end of the line the only thing Harry could hear.

Louis moved the phone away from his ear a little and looked at his omega, who was waiting patiently.

"What do you want tomorrow, darling?" He asked fondly.

"A cake, how about light blue? And um... Sunflowers," he asked softly, the alpha nodded.

"We're also going to need a cake, a light blue three-tier cake, to Harry's taste, and sunflowers." Louis exclaimed and Harry laughed, even if they had brought him a simple blue cake with three used candles he would be happy, because he was going to marry his alpha. "Okay, let everyone in the house know, I need everything ready by noon, got it?...Yes, thanks."

He hung up the call and they went back to settle as they were, they didn't say anything anymore, everything was planned. They were going to get married.

Louis began to trace lines on Harry's back, looking up at the ceiling with a stupid grin, the smell of his family washing over him, he felt happy, lucky to have everything he had.

Harry occasionally placed small kisses on Louis's chest, just below his tattoo, also caressing his skin and listening to his heartbeat. Words were not needed, through the bond they let each other know how much they loved each other.

"Harry Tomlinson." Louis savoured each letter, grinning wider at that.