A/N: They've become my new favorite couple. I'm not sure why…
Disclaimer: I do not own Wizards of Waverly Place, Barbie, G.I. Joe, Mars bars candy, Daughter of the Forest by Juliet Marillier, Anne McCaffrey or her Dragonriders of Pern series from which I have based my beliefs about harpers on.
Warning: Femslash. If you don't like it, turn back now before I persuade you to turn to the dark side! Just kidding. But seriously, if it's not your cup of tea then don't read this, or any of my other stories (I'm kind of a one trick pony when it comes to romantic pairings in my stories).
WWWWW
It was things happening as usual in Waverly Place. There were only a few changes to be seen.
The first of these changes is the absence of Justin Russo; happily away at college studying any and everything he could get to fit in his schedule. This meant he was spending entirely too much time with his nose stuck in books and far too little getting to know the world around him; at least, that's how his sister Alex saw things when Justin had enough time to write emails to the family or even more rarely call. But he was happy and Alex supposed that was fine.
This new attitude of Alex's was the second and most important change. Everyone remembered her as a selfish young teen, far too absorbed in her own dramas to pay any attention to anyone else's feelings. Now, as a seventeen year old, the broader outlook and concern for others was a refreshing and pleasant development to those who knew the girl. That's not to say that she didn't still get into lots of mischief, because she did, it's just that she did it on other people's behalf instead of her own. Still, her unique charm allowed her to escape having to face too many consequences and she was obviously learning just where her boundaries lay before she too went off to college.
It was in discovering these boundaries that Alex's latest scheme got her into trouble. Rather, it was putting her friendship with Harper in jeopardy.
Alex wasn't exactly sure how this one had gotten so out of hand. She had been interviewing people, trying out her skills in journalism, for a project on secrets (really, it wasn't just her being nosy…okay, it was totally her being nosy because she'd chosen the topic, but no one else needed to know that). The assignment was to learn how to ask the right questions, and follow leads, to reveal truths that had been kept secret; she was tasked with finding out at least one secret from each of the people she was closest to. That naturally meant her parents, her brothers, and Harper, all the people she loved most, even when they drove her up the wall.
It had been pathetically easy to discover Max's secret and to get pictures to corroborate the story. That the action figures (and one Barbie) he was supposed to have given away last winter he had actually kept in a locked box under his bed, which he got out and played with at least once a week instead of doing homework. She particularly liked the picture of Max when she'd managed to startle him while he was making his Barbie and G.I. Joe smooch.
Alex was peering around Max's door frame two days after discovering his box of toys. There was a camera in her hands, ready for use. She could hear Max voicing for his dolls, a simpering high pitched swooning voice for Barbie, and a typical deep hero voice for Joe.
"Oh Joe, how can I ever thank you for saving me from those rabid mutated porcupines?"
"No need to thank me. I was just doing my job. It's always a pleasure to rescue beautiful damsels such as yourself."
"Oh Joe!"
Alex pushed open the door just in time to catch Max making smooching noises, his lips puckered out perfectly for the picture. She laughed at the shocked look on his face before turning tail and running.
"Hey! Alex! You can't show that to anyone! Alex?! Come on! It'll totally ruin my reputation!"
Max's whining followed her all the way down to the sub shop, where she collapsed in a chair in a laughing heap.
Her father's secret, that he was cheating on his diet by eating candy bars stashed around the restaurant, had similarly been easy to figure out after she'd learned he'd gained two pounds in the last month and discovered Mars bars (his favorite) wrappers in the trash every day. She had a picture of him devouring one of the bars while hiding behind the counter in the shop, he looked like a squirrel hoarding nuts, it was hilarious.
"Hey dad, say cheese!"
Her father looked up, chocolate smeared around his mouth and wrapper dangling from fingers still near his mouth, as Alex snapped a great picture.
"Alex! Don't tell your mother. She'd put me back on that egg whites diet! Alex? Alex!"
But Alex was already gone, leaving only the echo of her chuckles behind.
Justin's secret had been harder to ferret out with him being on the other side of the country, but she had done it. She had gotten him to confess to having a crush on his biology professor after she had noticed him mentioning her more often than anyone else in his emails. She knew Justin would never act on that crush, but it was still amusing to think of him sitting around mooning after one of his teachers.
Alex sighed quietly on her end of the line as she listened to her brother once again wax poetic about 'Felicia Gaines' his dream girl-cum-biology professor. He'd been doing this more and more frequently in their talks, and in their emails. She had pages of email describing the professor's many attributes.
"Hey Justin."
"Yeah?"
"You realize you totally have a crush on her right?"
"What? I do not!"
Alex launched into a mocking recitation of all the things Justin had said about his professor, deepening her voice and adopting a dreamy tone, "Professor Gaines is soooo smart! And so beautiful, too. How could so much perfection be stuffed into one person? You should see the way she wrinkles her nose when she laughs. And her hair! It's a perfect mahogany under the lights inside but it lights up like fire when the sun hits it just right. And her lips-"
"Alright! Okay! I like her. Just stop…Do I really talk that much about her?"
Alex smiled. "Direct quotes Justin. It'd be cute if it weren't so creepy that you apparently stare at her all the time."
"Yeah yeah. Just wait until you fall in love. Then I can mock how stupid and sappy you sound."
"Uh huh. Sure. Keep dreaming. I'll never sound as dopey as you!"
Her mother's secret, that instead of reading the books assigned her book club she only read the spark notes on them, she'd discovered when she saw printed copies of notes on the book she'd seen on her mom's bedside table. Her mother had told her numerous times that the only way to really get a feel for a book was to read it, and that spark notes were like cheating. Alex had figured out a long time ago that the book club was only an excuse for her mom to get away from the house and shop for a few hours without anyone really expecting anything of her, so she decided not to call her on it. The lady deserved a break.
Alex was in her parent's bedroom to collect the laundry like her mom had asked her to when she accidentally knocked over the book on her mom's bedside table. She picked it up and looked at it for a second before her mom's shout brought her back downstairs bearing the laundry basket.
Passing through the kitchen she noticed a stack of papers on the counter. Deciding to take a closer look she noticed they were notes on the same book her mom was reading.
"Ha! I knew she didn't like reading anymore than I did!"
Alex had done a fair amount of snooping into their personal things and into their habits, but had learned a great deal about what she could get away with after her mother had grounded her for two weeks for rummaging in Max's room (so worth it). But that grounding had been nothing compared to what had happened with Harper. She'd messed up big time and wasn't sure how she could fix it.
See, usually, when Alex asked Harper a question she didn't want to answer all she had to do was stare at her friend until she caved. She had thought that she could just ask the question, Harper would demure, Alex would stare, Harper would fidget, Alex would stare some more, Harper would cringe a little, Alex would stare, Harper would babble an amazingly complex and detailed answer to the question and then sulk at Alex until Alex's natural charm forced Harper to forgive her. Par for the course, it had happened hundreds of times before over the course of their friendship. But this time, Harper hadn't caved. So Alex had started to pry and found out way more than she'd intended.
The question Harper hadn't wanted to answer was if she was still in love with Justin, and if not, who had she moved on to? Harper had said that she wasn't in love with Justin, but had refused to say who she liked instead. Alex, being a naturally curious person, could not settle for that but her tactic of staring until Harper gave in didn't work. It had always worked before. Always. At a loss as to what to do to get her answer she had gone completely overboard (in her typical fashion) and cast a spell. Not just any spell. Oh no. She had cast a truth spell, without anyone knowing she'd done it. It compelled anyone she asked a question to answer it honestly. It was a flagrant abuse of magic, and against several wizarding rules, especially since she was going to use it on a human mortal (it was one thing to cast a spell to use on other wizards, they could cast back, but an entirely different thing to cast a spell on defenseless mortals). But cast it she had and she refused to back down.
After she had cast the spell she had gone in search of Harper. Finding her was easy, dealing with what she learned, that was hard.
"Hey Harper." Alex had found Harper in the first place she'd looked, the community center Harper taught scrap-booking in. Actually, Harper did a lot of different activities here, but scrap-booking appeared to be her favorite.
"Hi Alex!" Harper was always happy to see her best friend. "Look at this scrap-book I made of our first year of friendship. I didn't know mom had so many pictures of us as babies. Look at us, we're so cute!"
Alex smiled at the pictures. Liking the one where she and Harper are eating a chocolate cake, but wearing more of it on their faces and clothes than ever made it into their mouths. The frosting painted multi-colored paths across both their faces. Baby-Alex's hand was leaving a long blue smear of frosting down the side of baby-Harper's head and both their mouths were open in giant toothless baby smiles. "We sure are." She agreed with Harper's assessment. They were adorable babies. Photogenic, too.
"So, how are you today Harper?" Alex had decided to start with easy questions so Harper wouldn't get suspicious that she'd used magic to coerce answers out of her.
"Great! I've been teaching the kids about the proper use of decorative cut-outs. See?" She pointed to the picture Alex had been admiring and showed her the colorful cake cut-out in the corner of the page.
"That's really nice, Harper." She was a little surprised that she meant it too. Usually she wouldn't be paying attention to things like this.
"Thanks!" Harper's beaming smile caused a warm happy fuzzy feeling in Alex that she was familiar with.
Alex tilted her head in acknowledgment, "What are you gonna do next week?"
Harper grinned hugely and turned to her class, "What are we doing next week guys?"
A loud chorus of "GLITTER!" was the reply as the kids started packing up their things to leave.
Alex laughed. "Wow! Exciting stuff." She bumped her shoulder to Harper's and Harper bumped back, smiling shyly up at Alex as she rounded up all her supplies.
"Hey Alex, will you help me clean this place up?"
Harper never asked Alex for much so she was happy to oblige her friend in this. "Sure." Alex looked around the large room, noticing the kids were all gone. "They sure got out of here fast."
"They're eager to get home to show off what they made today!" Harper was clearing the tables of various debris while Alex straightened chairs and collected stray scissors and glue bottles. They both checked the floor for messes and were pleased to find only scraps of paper hiding under the tables. They swept anyway, but Alex could see Harper was proud her students hadn't made a real mess.
"So what's your plan for the rest of the evening?"
Harper looked at her friend as she replied "Just homework and some joy-reading. I'm almost finished with that book I showed you the other day. The one about the girl that has to save her brothers from being swans for the rest of their lives after they were cursed by their sorceress step-mother, so she has to make them shirts out of this thorny plant and she's not allowed to speak a single word to anyone while she's working on it, but the sorceress keeps trying to sabotage her and she meets what's supposed to be an enemy fighter and they help each other and fall in love, and he helps her finish her task and-"
Alex fought down a laugh, "I remember Harper. Daughter of the Forest, right?"
"Right! Wow Alex. I didn't think you were paying attention when I was talking about it."
Alex shrugged, "It sounded interesting. Magic and all. What's the author's name again?"
"Juliet Marillier. Isn't that a romantic name? I think it is. I mean it's all pretty and French sounding, and doesn't it just make you think of princesses and romance and heroes?"
Before Harper could gear into full babble mode, as adorable as it was, Alex cut her short "I guess it's a romantic sounding name. But then so is yours."
Harper made a face. "What? Finkle? That's not romantic at all. That rhymes with tinkle, and there's nothing romantic about a tinkle!"
Alex was startled into laughing, having never made that particular connection before. "I meant your first name. Harper. Teller of stories. Singer of ballads. Imparter of knowledge. That seems pretty romantic to me. At least, that's how Anne McCaffrey makes it seem." She smiled winningly at her red-headed friend when she noticed Harper's blush. "Speaking of romance, you remember what I asked you the other day? About whether you were in love with Justin still or not? And who you like now if not him?"
"I remember. And I told you I'm not in love with Justin. I never really was."
"What?"
"I was never in love with Justin. He was just a safe outlet for my feelings for you." Harper's hands flew up to cover her mouth, her eyes went wide as she stared at Alex, wondering why she'd said that out loud.
Alex was as shocked as Harper. She never expected her spell to reveal something like this! "Feelings for me? You have feelings for me?"
Harper kept her mouth covered tight in an effort to not answer but found her head nodding against her will.
"Romantic feelings for me?" She asked carefully, unsure of herself in the wake of her best friend's unwitting confession.
Harper's eyes squeezed tightly shut, not wanting to see Alex's reaction, as once again her head nodded without her permission. She started backing away from her friend, trying to escape the truths that were never, ever, supposed to leave the confines of her mind.
Stunned but insatiably curious, Alex pursued her friend until she bumped into a table and was forced to stop. Alex came to rest directly in front of her as she asked, "For how long?"
Harper pushed her hands tighter against her mouth, so tight it was starting to hurt, and shook her head back and forth trying to stop herself from even thinking of the answer.
Alex reached out and gently pulled at Harper's wrists, coaxing the hands away from her mouth, "How long have you felt this way for me Harper? When did it start?"
"Always!" She burst out breathlessly, "It was always you." Harper's eyes filled with tears that spilled over her cheeks unchecked as she continued to speak without being able to stop. "When I first realized I liked you as more than a friend should, I knew that I could never say anything because I'd lose your friendship so I tried to like the next best thing. I tried to push all my feelings for you onto Justin because it was a safe outlet. It was normal for a girl to like a boy and I thought at least he's in the same family so I could maintain our friendship while transferring my romantic feelings to him. But he's not you, so it didn't work because I just kept right on falling in love with you. I thought I'd be okay if we could only be friends so I never said anything. But that's all ruined now because you know and I don't know why I told you but I have and now you won't want to be friends anymore because I've messed everything up by telling you and I don't even know why I said anything!" Harper turned her anguished eyes up to Alex's astounded ones and they froze Alex on the spot.
Alex opened her mouth to try to speak but found she didn't have any words. She didn't know how to process what Harper had said. She didn't know how to begin to deal with the fact that a large part of their friendship was apparently based on a falsehood, that Harper had been keeping something this big from her for years. She forgot she had a hold on Harper's wrists until the girl broke it and fled the room, then the building, leaving Alex behind feeling stunned and guilty. She realized she had just done a very bad thing to her friend, forcing her to reveal that part of herself before she was ready, before either of them was ready.
Alex had, of course, immediately cancelled the truth spell. She realized she probably should have never cast it in the first place, but she had always been the kind of girl to leap before looking and hadn't considered the consequences. She had expected Harper to say she was crushing on some random dude in their class, or some older guy. Never in a million years would she have thought Harper held those kinds of feelings for her. And Alex had thought she was the accomplished liar in their friendship, turns out Harper was better.
That had been over a week ago. She had turned in her project, omitting what she'd learned from Harper, knowing that was something that shouldn't be shared. It wasn't a harmless secret like the ones she'd exposed in her family. It was a huge secret, one that had already dealt a devastating blow to what had once been a solid friendship. Harper hadn't spoken to her since that day in the community center and it was driving Alex crazy with depression. She missed her best friend, because no matter what Harper may be feeling Alex would always think of her as her best friend.
She needed someone to talk to about this, but who do you talk to when the one person you want to talk to is the one causing your turmoil?
Alex didn't have an answer to that question so she went around stewing in her self-recriminations, hating that she'd been dumb enough to cast that spell, that she couldn't just let Harper have her secret, and that she didn't really know how to deal with that secret. She had never thought of another girl that way, much less Harper.
Harper was her best friend, someone who was always there but who she'd never really considered as having romantic potential. Before. Now Harper was all Alex could think about (if she were being honest with herself, she'd realize that Harper was almost all she thought about before this whole mess anyway). Wondering what it would be like to explore Harper's feelings, to be in a relationship with her. Alex supposed it would be something like their regular friendship already was, only with more hand-holding, some kissing, and a lot of goo-goo eyes. And now that she was thinking about it she thought maybe that wouldn't be so bad. Harper already knew Alex inside and out, already accepted her foibles and strengths, already knew about her wizardry and took it all in stride. And if Alex was being honest she knew that Harper was a very attractive girl and that she loved her more than anyone, but could it be a romantic love or was it just her confusing her best-friend love?
And that brought her right back around to needing someone to talk to and not having the one person she needed most; which was why her mind had been stuck in this circular thinking pattern for the better part of the week, distracting her from her tasks and turning her into a nuisance to the general public.
Her mother had finally had enough, apparently, because she cornered Alex in her room and asked flat out what was going on.
"Alright, kiddo." Theresa said as she closed the door to Alex's bedroom, "What's got you so bent out of shape?"
Alex spilled everything in a frantic burst of misery, desperation, and confusion hoping her mother could solve all her problems like she used to when she was little.
"Mom, I messed up big time. You remember how I was going around finding out everyone's secrets?" At her mother's nod she continued, "Well, you know how Harper answers anything if you stare at her long enough?" Another nod. "I asked her whether she was still in love with Justin or not, and if not who did she like instead. She told me she wasn't in love with Justin but wouldn't answer the second part no matter how long I stared or how many times I asked it. I was at her for three days and nothing! That'd never happened before. She always caved. It was driving me crazy, I had to know, and you know how I am."
"Oi, do I!"
Alex let that slide. "Well, I did something stupid. Like, really stupid. Even for me. Heck, even for Max!"
"Honey, what did you do?" Theresa sounded horrified of the possibilities. When your kids can perform magic you quickly realize there are no limitations to what they might do.
"I cast a spell!" Alex said it in a rush, hoping saying it faster would make it less terrible. "I cast a truth spell. It would compel anyone I asked a question to answer it honestly. And don't look at me like that, I already know it was wrong and stupid and I feel awful for doing it so just don't."
Seeing her daughter's eyes fill with tears quelled Theresa's scolding impulse and she continued to listen. "I thought she'd tell me that she had a crush on one of our teachers or something! But god, Mom! She said she's in love with me! She said she always had been but she'd been hiding behind Justin because she was afraid that I'd end our friendship over it. Mom, she looked so hurt just saying it, like it was killing her to tell me how she felt. And when she stopped talking she just looked at me like the world was ending. And I couldn't say anything! I didn't know what to say! I still don't! And she hasn't talked to me in a week. She keeps running from me at school. She won't let me get near her, and I don't know what to do! I don't know what to do about this! I don't know how to fix it. I want Harper back the way we used to be. I don't know what to do without her."
Alex turned her face to her mother with all her anguish, hurt and uncertainty plain to read in her eyes and echoed by every tear that made its way down her cheeks and Theresa rushed to close her daughter in a comforting embrace. Alex hadn't cried since she was a very small child and had broken her arm falling from a tree. And the last time she'd been this despondent was when she and Harper had gotten into a fight a long time ago and had stopped speaking to one another. Seeing her daughter in this state woke all the mothering instincts Theresa had and made her want to make all Alex's problems disappear. But this was something she couldn't make right just by shushing her girl. This was a serious issue that had to be worked through between her daughter and a girl she'd come to think of as a daughter. Theresa thought, and thought hard, as her daughter cried herself into silence.
"Alex, honey?" Theresa made sure she had her daughter's undivided attention before asking a question she knew would force Alex to reevaluate who she was as a person. "Why did you want to know who Harper was interested in romantically?"
Alex immediately opened her mouth to respond only to find she had nothing to say. She closed it again. "I uh…I just did. I don't know. It's something we used to talk about a lot but with Justin in college she hasn't said anything about it, or him, so I was curious."
Theresa pushed, "Why?"
"I just wanted to know." Alex was starting to sound a little defensive.
She pushed again, "But why, sweetheart? Why do you care so much?"
Alex got upset. "Because she's my best friend and I love her and I don't want her going after some total loser!" She was quieter now, "She deserves the best. At least with Justin she was close."
Theresa knew Alex cared about Harper, but apparently she had no idea how passionate her daughter really was about her best friend. Theresa was beginning to suspect that Alex felt exactly the same way Harper did and just didn't know it, or was mistaking it for regular friendship. Alex had never had any other really close friends, none as close as Harper, she had acquaintances at best. It was something Theresa hadn't really noticed about her daughter until that moment. That Harper was the only one she had allowed in, that she kept everyone else at arms length. "Close to what?"
"Close to the best, duh." Alex's reply was flippant, as if the answer was obvious.
Theresa's eyebrows met her hairline briefly before she pressed on. "And who is the best for Harper, sweetie?"
Without even thinking about it Alex brashly declared, "Me." Then she sat up ramrod straight, her eyes wide as she realized what she'd just said. "I'm best for Harper?" She regarded her hands in her lap for a long moment, searching for the answer in the lines of her palms. Then her brow smoothed and her body released its tension. "I'm best for Harper," she said softly, "and she's best for me."
The reverence with which Alex had said that last part was not lost on Theresa. Alex looked at her mother with wonder in her eyes. "Why did it take me this long to figure it out? Harper's known for years."
"Well, honey, sometimes we don't see what's right in front of our faces because we just aren't looking for it. Now, I think you need to talk to Harper, make things right. I'm sure she's missing you as much as you're missing her." Theresa patted her daughter's shoulder as she stood up to leave.
"Wait, Mom. You're okay with this? With Harper and me maybe becoming a couple?"
"Sweetie, I just want you kids to be happy. That's all a mother ever wants. Besides, next to the whole 'wizard' thing, being gay just isn't a very big deal. Now, go talk to Harper. I'm sick of you walking around miserable." Theresa smiled at her only daughter, proud of her for being brave enough to pursue what she wanted and happy that she's probably getting exactly what she needs in Harper.
Harper had always balanced Alex out, kept her grounded and made her laugh, been the common sense to Alex's wildness, and encouraged (and sometimes forced) Alex to be a better person than she'd otherwise be. She should have known their relationship was something special when Alex took Harper into space just to present her with a cupcake on her birthday, or when Alex had enchanted a superhero costume just so Harper would have the best one at the convention. Theresa could hardly wait to see what Alex would come up with to woo Harper if taking her into space was Alex's idea of something that was just friendly.
Alex smiled at her mom, then hugged her fiercely. "Thanks Mom. For everything."
"You're welcome, Alex. Don't think I've forgotten about that spell, we're going to have a long talk with your father about that when you've patched things up with Harper." She gave Alex an extra hard squeeze. When Theresa released her Alex was off like a shot, practically flying out of their home on her way to find Harper.
Alex was halfway to Harper's apartment when she remembered it was scrap-booking day and changed direction to take her to the community center. Running the whole way, still flush with excitement and joy in her revelation, she was barely out of breath when she made it to the center. Still, she took a moment to compose herself before walking into the room she knew Harper's class would be in.
She had entered silently, so none of the kids or Harper had noticed her arrival. She stood just inside the doorway, watching her best friend laugh with the kids as she taught them how to properly use glitter in their scrap-books. She could see several of the students had been extremely enthusiastic and gotten glitter all over their books, their tables, the floor and themselves. She did not relish cleaning up after the session today, but knew already that she would help Harper do it, despite her usual aversion to anything work like. She watched Harper move around the room, swaying gracefully between chairs and tables and kids, she almost looked like she was dancing.
Unbidden a smile lit Alex's features as she leaned back against the wall and realized how entirely smitten with her friend she'd been all along, for who knew how long. But this warmth in her belly spreading into her heart was a familiar feeling, one she'd only gotten when Harper was near, when she'd looked at Alex, or said something to her, or touched her, or given her a gift. She hadn't had a name for this warmth before, not knowing its cause, but now she knew it was love and its cause, its reason, was Harper.
She jumped when she heard Harper's watch beep, signaling the end of the class.
"Alright guys," Harper called out, "clean up your stuff and I'll see you all next week when we do…"
"BORDERS" the kids all called out to her, making her laugh delightedly. Hearing that laugh did something to Alex, caused heat to flare within her, making her wish she'd been the cause of that beautiful sound.
Alex stood to the side as kids spilled into the hall beyond her. She stayed where she was, watching Harper begin the clean-up process. Alex waited until all the kids had left before speaking up softly, "Harper."
Harper looked up sharply, directly into Alex's eyes, fear clear in her posture and no small amount of anger made her go rigid as she turned away to continue cleaning. Obviously she'd figured out Alex had used some magic on her.
"What do you want Alex? To force me to say more things I never meant to? Or maybe to just humiliate me with what I've already said?"
Alex knew she deserved it, but the caustic remarks still stung. "Harper," she said a little incredulously, "I would never-"
"What? Force me to give you answers I didn't want to? You already did that Alex."
"I would never use what you said to hurt you," Alex replied heatedly. "I know I made a mistake forcing you to answer those questions but I'm not sorry I did."
Harper practically blazed with anger as she turned to Alex, "You're not sorry? You betray my trust in you, my faith in you, and you're not sorry? Then what are you doing here?"
Alex took several steps towards Harper, standing less than a foot in front of her, "I came to talk to you about what you said…and what I've been thinking about this last week." She laughed self-deprecatingly, "Actually, they're one and the same so…"
"What do you want me to say Alex? That I totally get it if you don't want to be friends anymore, that I'll stay away from you and you'll do the same, and that we never have to look at each other or talk to each other ever again?" Harper's voice was devoid of all the cheerfulness that characterized her personality and it broke Alex's heart to know she'd robbed Harper of her joy.
"I hope not!" Alex said vehemently, she continued softly, looking into Harper's eyes, "I came to tell you that I miss you. That I've been a wreck all week without you. That I became a hazard to those around me because I couldn't stop thinking about you and how terribly I felt, I feel, for what I've done. That you're my best friend and I don't know what to do without you. I don't know who I am without you, Harper, and I don't want to know. I know that I'm a better person with you, that you're the best part of my life. And I know it's taken me forever to realize it considering you've known forever that we're good together but I was hoping you'd give me a chance to catch up."
It was the tears, more than anything, which convinced Harper that Alex was telling the truth. She knew Alex almost better than she knew herself, and she knew that Alex never cried unless she was well and truly broken inside. She had to ask though, "What exactly are you saying, Alex?"
Alex could hear the faint beginnings of hope in Harper's voice, could see the glimmer of tears rising to match her own, and she offered Harper a tearful smile. "That I'm an idiot for hurting you. That I'm a bigger idiot for not seeing how you feel, and how I feel, before now. That you're my best friend, Harper, but that doesn't mean we can't try for something more."
Harper stared hard into Alex's eyes and said a little exasperated, "Alex…"
Alex blew out a hard puff of breath and took one of Harper's hands into her own and sliding her free hand into Harper's hair, "I want to be with you Harper. I want there to be an 'us'. I want to do the whole romance thing for you, with you, with flowers and dates and picnics under the stars…or in the stars depending on how adventurous you're feeling. I want to give you everything you deserve, be everything you deserve. I want the chance to love you Harper, if you'll let me."
Tears slipped down Harper's face. She was finally hearing the words she'd always dreamed of, from the one she'd always dreamed of, and it made her heart soar into the heavens and back. A giant smile stole across her face as she released a happy sobbing laugh and wrapped her arms around Alex's middle, burying her face in the taller girl's shoulder. "I want that, too, Alex. So much."
Alex squeezed Harper to her in a hug, relief and elation filling her to bursting, as she took a deep breath and released it. "Harper…look at me please." Alex waited until Harper looked into her eyes again. She smiled the gentlest, loveliest smile Harper had ever seen her give, and said "I love you, Harper. I didn't know that's what it was until it was almost too late. I almost screwed up big enough to miss out on what I know will be the best thing in my life. It's not going to be easy, because I make mistakes. All the time. So you're going to have to keep me in line and tell me when I'm being stupid because I don't want to screw this up."
"You won't, Alex. I won't let you." Harper hugged Alex tightly and whispered into her ear, "I love you, Alex Russo. Don't you ever forget that."
Alex whispered back, "Never."
"Now," Harper smiled at Alex with mischief in her eyes, "are you going to make me wait all night or are you going to kiss me?"
Alex smiled charmingly and did as Harper asked.
WWWWW
A/N: As always, please review. I'm anxious to know what you all make of this one.