Step 1

It was sweet to see Richie on the sofa with Harrison while I cleaned up the table after lunch. It was a moment he deserved, they both did.

I stalled in the kitchen as I watched Richie entertain Harrison with stuffed animals, making voices up for them and making Harrison laugh and clap. He was adjusting very easily to a new person.

When Harrison started to get tired and less interested in the stuffed animals acting silly, I decided to join them on the sofa.

"He's getting tired." Richie commented.
"It's naptime." I agreed with him. "Probably best to check his nappy before he falls asleep." I said, ready to pick up Harrison to go do so.

Richie picked him up and put him in his lap before I could.

"Let me do it. I'll get him to bed." He picked Harrison up and stood up with him. "Does he need pj's?"
"Just take his jeans off and he'll be fine." I told him. "Everything is at his changing table."
"We'll manage." Richie said before going to Harrison's room.

I heard him talk in the other room, telling Harrison that he had to go sleep and have some nice dreams. His voice was sweet and low, a soothing voice to get Harrison to sleep.

A few minutes later Richie walked back into the living room, pulling the bedroom door closed behind him, leaving it open for an inch.

"He's sound asleep." He said with a smile on his face as he sat down on the sofa next to me. "We need to talk."
I nodded.
"You should have tried harder to let me know about this-"
"I tried as hard as I could, Richie, I really did." I interrupted him straight away. He needed to know that I had done everything I could to let him know. "I wanted you to know about this because he is your son, you deserve each other."
"I know, I got it." He assured me. "But now we need to figure this out. I want him to be my son."
"He is your son."
"I mean on paper, his birth certificate and all that stuff."
I nodded, he was absolutely right. "We'll need to get that adjusted but then you need to be with me to sign those papers."
"We'll need to figure out how to do that."
I smiled and shook my head, watching him frown at me before I explained. "I did research, I asked when I registered his birth. They said that when the father wants to be on the birth certificate and recognize him as his child, we'd just have to go back, register him again and he gets a new birth certificate with your name on it."
"Just like that?" Richie frowned.
I nodded. "Yeah, we just need to go to the office and get it adjusted."
"So we could even do that now?"
"I think so."
"And how long does Harrison nap?"

We talked for the rest of Harrison's naptime. Agreeing on what had to be done.

As soon as Harrison was awake we'd go and get his new birth certificate, step one. With having that, I should be able to apply for a passport and afterwards,  work visa to get to the United States. Perhaps it wouldn't be on time to go with Richie but at least by the end of the summer to which he agreed. Knowing he was still busy during the summer and had another child at home that he needed to inform.

I agreed, while Richie was away now, I'd get everything in order. After the last concert in Scotland, he'd drop by London for a day or two before going home to Ava where he had to break some tough news to her.

Knowing that a work visa could take up to two years, he agreed to help out with it. After all, Harrison was his son which should be able to push the visa for both of us so Harrison could be with his father.

With that, Richie also agreed that Harrison and I could stay at his house until I could get by on my own. I wouldn't be his burden.

"You'd have to move to L.A., ,you're just okay with that? What about your friends and family? Your parents, wouldn't they miss you?"
I shrugged. "My parents live on the other side of the island, where I grew up, I haven't seen them since I started college here and I haven't heard from them since I told them I was pregnant and couldn't tell them who the dad was."
He frowned, as if he couldn't believe it. "What about friends?"
"They're all busy with school or jobhunting or being succesful. I have a child to watch 24/7, our lives are too different now."
"Oh." He didn't know what to say.
"Harrison is really the only person I have."