Mid October 2004, Paris, France…
16 year old Harper was walking through a park after a long and exhausting day, unwilling to bring herself to go home after a bad fight with Sly the previous night… and tripped over a rock, catching herself from falling.
"This day just needs to end already!" Harper muttered.
But as she stopped to pick up her dropped book bag, she let out a scream after she was grabbed and her scream was cut off by a masked man clamping his hand over her mouth and her biting him before she stomped on his foot and grabbed the blue and red bag before she ran for it, screaming for help even as she was tripped up, turned onto her back and pinned down and thrashing around as the attacker ripped the lower half of her school blouse up.
"Stay still, you teasing and taunting harlot!" The attacker yelled.
"Stop! Get off me, GET OFF ME!" Harper screamed before she was sliced with a knife.
Her screams were answered when a man in his late 20s snatched the masked attacker off of her and slammed him into the tree, Harper closing her eyes in fright as the man continued to attack the masked attacker who had been targeting the teenager.
"Thought you were gonna have your way with her despite her kicking and screaming, huh?! Don't think so, you sick bastard! You go anywhere near her or any young girl or woman again, I will hunt you down and rip your damn spine out! Are we clear?!" The man threatened.
"We're clear…" The masked attacker responded in fear for his life, the younger man throwing him into traffic and letting a car run him over.
He turned to Harper in a gentle manner and crouched down to the scared girl, who opened her eyes.
"He won't be hurting you anymore, little one…" The man reassured her as he pressed a washcloth to the wound under her right eye. "What's your name?" He asked.
"Harper Eckert…" Harper responded in a trembling tone.
"You're gonna be okay, Harper. I'm Brayden Lavery… I'm gonna get you to a hospital." Brayden explained before he helped Harper up and to his car after handing her book bag to her.
Hospital Lariboisière Ap-Hp was visible by its illuminated sign and the 28 year old parked the car and helped the injured 16 year old into the ER, Harper leaning against Brayden as her being pulled down had caused her to injure her left ankle.
While she was being treated and had explained her story to the police, who wrote it down as well as writing down what Brayden had witnessed for verification, the nurse called Jenny, who rushed down to the hospital and immediately hugged her niece.
"Where are Sly and Uncle Paul?" Harper questioned after they had let go, the wound under her eye stitched up.
"Sly's out with friends and Paul got held up at work." Jenny explained before turning to Brayden. "Thank you for protecting my niece." She responded with a kind smile.
"It's no problem. I saw what was going on, I wasn't going to let that coward hurt her." Brayden replied before he lightly rubbed Harper's right shoulder.
Neither knew it at the time what their chance encounter would lead to but Jenny could see that Harper had made a good friend.
Even if he was older than Harper.
It was about two weeks later that Harper and Brayden were on a walk through the city that the two had to jump out of the path of an oncoming car.
But thankfully, the two weren't injured and neither was the driver, who had gotten out.
"Charlie?!" Brayden responded after helping Harper up, Harper seeing a raven haired man that stood about 6'1" and had brown eyes.
"Sorry about that, old pal… hey, who's the little chick?" 24 year old Charlie Delaney Jr replied after walking over to them.
"Charlie, this is Harper. And control your damn driving, you maniac!" Brayden explained, Charlie and Harper shaking hands.
Harper had no idea what would unfold from this chance encounter…
Present time, Mid October 2018, Port Charles, New York…
Harper waited patiently for the alarm to go off.
As patiently as she could, glancing at her oval cut Rose Quartz engagement ring.
Sometimes she still had trouble just believing how much had changed, the 30 year old still feeling like that 16 year old who had met her future husband that night.
Hell, she had trouble believing how much had changed in the past year, finding Jason and the rest of her biological family.
But right now, she was a different kind of scared as she glanced at the two tests on the bathroom countertop.
Despite still not knowing Harper all that well, Sonny disapproved of the engagement and of Brayden… but Harper had laid down the line and told Sonny that she was not one of his children and was not going to be controlled.
'Sonny, you are gonna lose your damn mind!' Harper thought.
The timer had snapped her out of her thoughts and Harper pressed the button and picked up both tests… and smiled when she saw that both read Positive.
She heard the door of the townhouse unlock and open before hearing "Darlin', I'm home.", Harper grabbing the tests and heading downstairs.
42 year old Brayden saw Harper smile and the two kissed… before she put the tests on the table and he looked at them before he turned to her and smiled as his right hand rested on her stomach.
"I… I have no idea how we're gonna tell everyone." Harper responded as they held each other.
"We'll take our time with that for now, Harper Elena…" Brayden replied before they kissed again.
Across the street, a pair of brown eyes looked through the window and saw them.
"Well well… look who I've run into again."
Charlie smirked in an evil manner, the con artist intent on bringing the happy couple's world crashing down.