Stephanie's P.O.V.
It was so nice out that day that we had decided to enjoy the fresh air. Instead of going somewhere, we spontaneously pulled out old yard games Harry and Gemma used to play with, which consisted of Skittle, Croquet, and Ladder Ball. I was having fun, don't get me wrong, but the whole adoption thing didn't slip my mind the entire time so I felt like I wasn't too into the games. I would love to be adopted by Anne, but I just remembered that that would mean Harry would technically be my brother, which is pretty awkward considering I don't want to give up dating him to have a sibling relationship. But if Rachel's mum adopts me, then how will I be able to continue my connections here? My dad and my brother are here, Harry's here, the entire Styles' family, and now my new friends, the other boys.
"Hey, you feeling okay?" Harry asked, coming up next to me.
"Yeah, sorry, just thinking," I replied, shaking my head and getting ready to swing for Ladder Ball.
"You sure?" he questioned. I could see his green eyes staring hard at me.
"Yeah," I shrugged, avoiding his eye contact.
"Hey!" he called out to Zayn and Liam, our opponents. "We're going to take a break."
"Alright!" they shouted back.
"What?" I said.
"Come with me," Harry responded, taking my hand and leading me over to a patch of trees. A very familiar patch of trees, I might add. Harry walked around to the back and began climbing up wooden stairs, me following after. As soon as we got to the top, my mind triggered and I realized this was the treehouse we used to sit in all the time to get away from reality.
"Do you remember?" he asked, resting in his usual corner.
"Yeah," I smiled. "But I remember this used to be huge. It's so small now."
Harry laughed and glanced out the only square window overlooking the garden. "Yeah, it's been a while since I've been up here, too."
"Will this break?" I asked, suddenly worried.
"No," he chuckled. "It's built pretty sturdy. We'll be fine."
We sat in silence for a few moments, taking in each other's company and our childhood memories. I also watched Louis, Liam, and Zayn play another game through the window.
"So, what was bothering you before?" Harry started.
"It's nothing," I answered. Harry just looked at me, knowing full-well that's not the case. "Okay, okay. I'm stressed about the adoption thing."
"I knew it," he replied. "You do realize you can tell me anything? Not much has changed with us, except for the fact we've been away for, what, 8/9 years now?"
"I know, I know," I said.
"So, what about the adoption?" he questioned.
"If I let your mum adopt me, we'd technically be siblings, which is awkward," I began. "The upside is that I'll be close to my dad and my brother and everyone else here, not to mention my hometown. But I'd be leaving Rachel, which is what I don't want to do. If I let her mum adopt me, I wouldn't have all of you."
"Also, your mum, well, Helen, would still be in America, right?" Harry added.
"Oh yeah, that too."
"But the sibling part is also an issue," he pondered, trailing off.
"Do you think my dad might be able to take me back into custody?" I asked slowly.
Harry sighed before answering that one. I could tell he didn't really want to. "The thing is, Helen was right, what she said about him. He could if he really wanted to, but he wouldn't be able to take care of you."
"I'm old enough. Right?"
"There's a lot more to taking on full responsibility of yourself, Steph. You're thinking of having your dad take custody of you, but you're old enough to take care of yourself, right?"
"Yeah," I replied.
"Exactly. You think it would be easy. It's not."
"How do you know?"
"Elijah told me his whole story. It's not that easy, Steph," Harry said.
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"I'm not getting into it, but just trust me."
"Well, can Elijah help look after me?"
"He's got enough on his hands, taking care of your dad and himself and trying to live his own life. I'm just saying, I don't think that would be a good idea," Harry explained.
"So what do I do?" I questioned.
Harry sighed and looked across the lawn. This was more work than I had expected and I was on the edge. Where the heck was I going to live?
"I've got it," Harry exclaimed, smiling at me. "Well, I've got an idea."

Rachel's P.O.V.
I couldn't believe what just happened that morning. Helen was usually a nice woman whenever I went to Steph's house and I've never seen her act like that before. And then my mom just totally slayed that argument. I was surprised at that, too, but I'm even more surprised she let me stay here.
After Helen left, my mom checked up on me and made sure I was okay. I can understand; it's not easy for a mom to find out her child broke her foot and they're thousands of miles away. But I assured her that everything's fine and everyone's taking good care of me. It was just a little mishap on my part, nobody else's fault but mine. I should have been more careful. But it's alright, I'm fine, everyone's good.
Then Anne and my mom left and the boys decided to pull out some yard games. I had a hard time attempting to play, but Niall basically helped me the entire time.
"I wanna swim," I told Niall when we finished our game with Louis.
"They have a mini pool, like one for little kids," Niall suggested.
"How am I supposed to swim in one of those?" I asked.
"How are you supposed to swim at all?" Niall pointed out, coming out a little more harsh than he intended. Shrugging, I glanced down at the ground. "I'm sorry, love." He reached around and hugged me tight.
"Could we do something with water, though?" I questioned.
"I think they have water guns," he replied.
"Wait! What if we had a water balloon fight?" I exclaimed, smiling at him.
"What if we had both? Balloons and guns?" he responded, exchanging the grins. He wheeled me around to the garage and we found three water guns. As I filled them up by the hose, Niall went inside the house to find balloons, emerging excitedly. He had a huge bag of little ones, perfect for water balloons. We carefully filled half of the bag, dropping them into a bucket on my lap, and then headed to the back. Harry and Stephanie were nowhere to be seen, although Niall didn't see or hear them inside. Liam, Zayn, and Louis were playing a game together, their backs to us.
"Ready?" Niall asked, preparing his water guns.
"Ready," I replied, grabbing a few water balloons.
"Attack!" Niall screamed. I saw the boys' faces turn towards us for about a second before Niall's water guns hit them in the face. I'm not great at aiming, but I threw the first couple of balloons in their direction and surprisingly, most of them smacked the boys. They started running all over the place, making it harder for me to aim.
Water was flying everywhere, but I noticed Harry's and Steph's faces popped out of the small treehouse in the corner. Perfect.
I grabbed a balloon in each hand and raised them back, bringing them forward and letting them fly out of my hands. One of them splashed Harry's face and the other hit the wall. At least I got Harry.
Suddenly, water clouded my vision as a stream from one of the guns smacked my face. Wiping my eyes, I noticed Liam standing there, ready to squirt me again, but I was too fast for him. My hand whipped fast and the balloon hit his chest, soaking him all the way to his toes.
"You'll pay for that!" he shouted, grinning.
"Oh, no you don't!" Niall yelled, running up next to me out of nowhere and splashing Liam. I chucked another balloon at him and he tried getting us again, but he ran out of water.
"Not fair!" Liam pouted. "It's two against one."
"Just go get more water," I told him, laughing. He jogged away from us and I inspected our surroundings.
Louis had the other gun and Zayn, Harry, and Stephanie had filled up the rest of the balloons and were chucking them at each other.
"Hey, I can't reach them," I said to Niall, pointing at the group. He wheeled me closer and then started squirting while I threw the balloons. They began aiming at us and soon, water was flying everywhere. It didn't matter who you hit; we were just having a good time.
After a while, all of the balloons were gone and the guns were out of water. By this time, we were all tired out and we lied on the wet ground, panting.
"Well, did that satisfy your swimming?" Niall asked me, sitting up.
"Yeah," I nodded, smiling at him.
"That was awesome," he replied.
"I didn't know you played like that, Horan," I said.
"Neither did I," he responded, laughing.
"Thank you," I commented, "for all of this."
"Anything for you, love," Niall answered, looking at me. He leaned up and pressed a kiss to my lips, lingering a little bit as it felt so right.
"Eww!" someone's voice declared, causing us to break apart. I couldn't help but giggle a little bit, and soon everyone was laughing.

That afternoon is still one of my favorite days. We were carefree, energetic, and definitely full of laughs, the best thing one could ask for of their friends.

Notes

Thank you so much for all of your nice comments! Please keep them coming, all feedback is appreciated!

Rachel and Stephanie :)