A/N: Harper is without a doubt my favourite character from the series. Almost ever. And every guy, including Harper, needs a little love in their life, even if it's just for a night or two right? Also, this is going to be set at some point in season 2 after Ouroboros.

Shout out to dino-dog83 for doing an awesome job of beta reading this for me!

Characters: Harper/OC mostly. Will see plenty of everybody else though.

Rating: T to be on the safe side.

Summary: Dylan always got the girls. Beka always got the guys. Even Rommie had more luck than him. But Harper? He got to look on with hope and desire. Until he's drinking vodka spiked Sparky in a too costly bar on a backwards drift with an Earth girl. Eventual Harper/OC story.

Disclaimer: All I own is Riley. Nothing else is mine.

Harper, meet Riley.

Chapter 1

Five days. Dylan had given the six man crew of Andromeda a five day, much deserved break and Harper was doing his best to find a woman to talk to. On this whole drift, with its numerous bars, he was certain there had to be at least one woman who he could charm for the night. Just one. Right? No, apparently not. Four hours of bar jumping later and he resigned himself to drinking alone.

Dylan and Rommie remained aboard the Andromeda holding down the fort. Trance had told him she wouldn't be a part of his lonely ploy and Beka always left him to his own business while she went about her own. Probably looking for the next big score. And Tyr, well, nobody knew where he'd disappeared to, but right now Harper wouldn't mind that Nietzschean's company.

The bar he was in was almost full and as Harper elbowed his way to the bar he studied the crowd for a girl he thought he'd have a chance with. After a good look around he'd had no luck and definitely no chance of a night of love and fun in the sheets. Those that he did spot were either already with somebody, busy eyeing up some other competition or in too large a group of mixed company for him to have any luck.

He was halfway through his third beer of the night, having switched from Sparky Cola some time ago, when the group of Kalderan's behind him made sounds of indignation. He turned his head over his shoulder to see a brunette woman, definitely human, push through the group with an apologetic smile on her face. "Yeah?" she muttered. "Well don't just stand in the middle of the room taking up all of the space like a group of Nightsiders who think they own the floor."

Harper couldn't help his grin at the woman's words. The Kalderan's, however, were not quite as impressed as Harper. They all seemed to turn to glare at the woman who'd interrupted their grouping. She ignored the Kalderan's glare as she took the empty seat beside Harper. He wasn't staring, he thought to himself. Honest. Right? No, he was staring. Maybe this, just maybe this right here; this woman next to him was his luck finally changing. It's what he'd been waiting for.

If she noticed him staring she didn't say anything as she tapped the bar top and attracted the attention of the Chichin owner. "Hey Nolsch, can I get a beer?"

Hearing her order Nolsch set about grabbing a bottle of amber gold liquid and pushing it in front of her. "You didn't pay your tab from last time," he grumbled.

As she stuck her hand out to grab her drink Nolsch moved it just out of reach. She sighed. "I'm good for it. You know that."

"Ten percent interest." He pushed the bottle back into her waiting hand. "And that's on top of tonight."

"Yeah, yeah, I'll pay." She pulled the cap off her bottle and took a gulp. When she put the bottle back onto the bar top her head turned towards Harper and her green eyes met his blue ones with a look of curiosity in her gaze. "Hi."

"Hi," he said, his mood perking up when he spoke. Seamus Zelazny Harper was back in business, at least, he hoped he was. "You do know a ten percent interest is practically theft right?"

She laughed. "This whole place is theft," and she pointed a finger to his drink. "Much cheaper at the Three Moon Saddle."

"Oh yeah? So why are you here then?"

She shrugged one shoulder and took another sip of her drink. "Because a cute blonde guy ran out before I had a chance to even say 'Hi'."

His luck was changing and he certainly was back in the business of wooing those of the opposite gender. As much as he told himself to play it cool and to keep her interested, his mind couldn't help getting stuck on the word 'cute'. "Cute? Not manly? Obvious genius? And of course, easy to make others jealous."

She laughed and his years of talking to women, no matter how short the conversations were, let him know when a laugh was a laugh and not forced. Her laugh was honest and good. "You better be as smart as you proclaim yourself to be." She took another sip of her beer.

He smirked. "And if I wasn't, would that be a problem?"

Again, she shrugged and he watched as she shuffled so that she was leaning over in his direction. "I have a thing for the cute, smart guys. And," as she leaned even closer he couldn't help but to lean into her a little himself. He watched as her eyes dropped to his mouth and then continued further down. This was certainly his night of luck. "It'd be a damn shame if you were a regular shmuck."

"Oh I'm no ordinary schmuck," he promised.

She raised her brows but she didn't move away from him. "But you are a schmuck?"

He laughed a little awkwardly and held a hand out. "Seamus Zelazny Harper."

She grinned wide and took a hold of his hand. "Riley. Just Riley."

He grinned. "Well, Just Riley, it's a pleasure to meet you." A memory of Satrina and her tesseracting buddies came to mind and Harper pulled away with a sudden frown. "As much as I love talking to a beautiful woman such as yourself, I gotta ask. What are you after?"

Riley blinked at him. Frowned, and backed away ever so slightly before blinking again. "I- I thought that that was obvious."

"No offence, it's just that I've had some bad luck with women recently. And the last thing I need is another trans-phasing woman with nothing but manipulation on her mind."

The confusion she wore was quickly wiped away with a look of seriousness as she back closer to him. "Well Seamus, I had a night of nothing but fun planned out for me and I had hoped they'd involve you."

"Well that depends. What kind of plans are we talking about here? The fun and wacky kind or the life threatening dangerous kind?"

A large grin spread across her face and a look of desire entered her eyes. "The fun, wacky and all types of sexy kind."

His mouth went dry at her words. He had to take a few long gulps before he opened his mouth to reply. "You'll have to tell me what some of these plans are."

"Or, I can show you them. Later."

He grinned. "Yes you can." Seamus Zelazny Harper still had it.