You'd be quite well-justified in thinking something along the lines of "oh no, what in the world has that woman done this time?" at this precise moment, because I'm sort of wondering that myself. I had absolutely no idea I was gonna write this little oneshot; I was just gazing at the blue A4 pad I use for rough fanfiction drafts and then this happened almost before I knew it. But I'm actually incredibly happy right now (because more than a few nice things happened on Tumblr today), so why not post something happy to try and share the feeling? That's the least I can do for you guys, after all.

Fic-ward, ho!

The more Harper thought about it (and why not think about it now, while she was ostensibly working on a new redstone project?), the more she supposed that she really should have seen this coming. That it was, for lack of a better word, inevitable.

Even when they were all running for their minds from PAMA (she tried to assure herself that the name would stop leaving that sour taste someday), even when she was leading them to her secret lab, her sanctuary, in a last desperate attempt to get help, a tiny part of her couldn't help but realise with disbelief that Jesse didn't seem to blame her one bit, even though it was Harper's 'greatest' creation that was holding Jesse's friends in its red, red clutches. And a slightly bigger part of her noticed the way Jesse's bearded companion, whom the girl had introduced as Ivor, looked at Harper – as though she held the answers to everything, as though she was special, as though she was…well, anything but the indirect enslaver of an entire world of people.

Harper let the blueprint she was holding slip through her gloved fingers back onto her desk, sighing quietly as the corners of her mouth twitched upwards at that thought. After everything, after her monster had threatened his ki- friends and eventually captured two of them, after she'd shoved them all face-first into the Old Builders' oh-so-twisted world, after her actions had led to Jesse signing her life away to Hadrian (months later, Harper's heart still clenched a little at that memory. Brave Jesse, selfless Jesse, so unlike Harper), after she'd tried so hard to make up for what she'd done to all her friends only for them to banish her when they'd deemed she'd outlasted her usefulness, after she'd remembered Jesse's sincere promise that 'you'll always be welcome in our world, Harper' and found her way to that world with the warnings of her no-longer-friends that she ought to be thankful she hadn't been given worse still ringing in her ears…

After all of that, Ivor still looked at Harper that way.

And now that it was all over, or so every single member of the 'Order' had reassured her, it was just as inevitable that she'd found herself examining her own thoughts and feelings in an attempt to figure out just why she loved that look so much. Like the answer hadn't been staring her square in the face all along. Like this wouldn't have happened sooner or later even if it hadn't.

They'd never really discussed this with each other. Neither of them were particularly gifted with words, especially not when something as emotionally complex as this was involved. What mattered to her (and, she was willing to bet, to him as well) was that they both knew exactly how the whole thing stood and had a good idea of what they were to one another. That was worth thousands upon thousands of words.

Add in everything that came with it and Harper really had gotten so, so, so much luckier than she'd ever deserved.

Harper blinked, realising that she'd been gazing into space for a while now. She tried in vain to wipe the bright, goofy smile off her face and was on the point of slipping her goggles back on when there was a sudden thump! from above, causing the ceiling to vibrate ever so slightly. Harper jerked a little, but was quick to relax when she remembered that 'everything that came with it' just so happened to involve five of the best, bravest, funniest, most generous children she'd ever known. And sometimes, as Harper was reminded as another thump! rang out, that list of adjectives also included 'craziest', especially when Axel and Olivia were off for good behaviour from their duties in Boom Town and Redstonia respectively.

Harper glanced at her desk, the scattered pages upon it silently mocking her. The list she had lying around…somewhere of things she had yet to do and formulae she had yet to work out was depressingly long. No rest for the wicked, she thought to herself, with a grim smile that she was quick to soften because Ivor (her Ivor) never liked it when she wore that expression.

He preferred it when she wore one of his robes instead.

Concentrate, damn it, Harper scolded herself, shoving her goggles down over her eyes resolutely, only for whatever focus she had left to be split straight down the middle by a third huge thump!, this one accompanied by angry footsteps and a familiar reprimanding tone, along with what sounded like some muffled laughter from certain other voices.

Harper shook her head in exasperation even as a fond smile found its way onto her face. No wonder she'd thought that Ivor had been Jesse's dad when she'd first met them both; he probably would've denied it had anyone said so, but there was little doubt in anyone's mind that in spite of all the complaining the man did about their self-preservation (or lack thereof), the fact remained that their- the children brought a certain richness to both his life and Harper's.

Maybe that had made it just as inevitable, this less and less accidental tendency of hers to think of them all as her own.

Maybe it hadn't.

All Harper really knew beyond any shadow of doubt as she slid the goggles off again, giving making any progress up as a bad job even though it was apparent from the relative silence that Ivor had made their kids go to bed (probably not without one or two threats involving potions), was that this wonderfully quirky and perfectly imperfect family she'd fallen into, the people in it and the life they'd all helped her to build…it was something she would never, ever trade.

Especially when she felt a certain pair of arms embrace her from behind.

I was grinning like a dork all the way through writing this :) Let it be known that I haven't written anything shippy before and I'm not what you'd call an expert (being both aromantic and hopelessly idiotic does that to you sometimes), so I hope that this was all right, because...I just really love Harvor and their- I mean, the New Order kids. Besides, Harper deserves a lot better than what I wrote about her in 2293, does she not? :3

...Yeah, I promise I'll try and kick my lazy rear into focusing on my 7 current planned projects (4 of which are very time-sensitive) now, instead of getting sidetracked with completely accidental new ones.

(*sheepishly tips hat*)

~ Rainy

(EDIT: Happy birthday, TheAmberShadow! :) )