Takes place 3 years after Spencer and Avery outtake. Harper is 25 years old.

HPOV

"Okay, that looks great, now do you think you could maybe move to the left a little?" She shifted to left, and held the flowers firm in her hands. She had the smile that all the brides have. A smile of bliss and appreciation of finally getting married to the one they love.

Lucky them.

I snapped the last couple of pictures. "Perfect." I said and walked up to the bride and groom to shake their hands. "Thank you, you were both great, I will get these developed as soon as I can, and then we can go over what you would like to buy." They both thanked me, and left. I walked out to my car, and packed up my camera in its case.

I started my own private photography business after I moved back home after graduating college. I bought myself a small little apartment that was only a couple of blocks away from my parent's house. Avery and Spencer also lived down the street and it was great to be close to my family.

I got in my car, and saw that it was already eight in the morning, and I knew I needed to hurry to make it to the diner in time. Every Sunday, me and my father would go to the local diner and have breakfast together. I went by my parent's house a couple of times during the week, and I talk to them on the phone every day, but it was nice to just have some quiet time with just me and my Dad.

I was close to every single person in my family. We were all a really close knit family, and I was so grateful for that. I know that not everyone gets to experience that kind of closeness with their family. We were all close, but me and my Dad had an extremely close bond. I am very protective of my father. Unlike my other siblings, I have seen my Dad at his lowest. Even though Avery was there when we were at that point in our life, she doesn't really remember because she was so young.

But I remember.

I remember going to school in shoes that were ripped on the top. I remember my Dad coming home at night, every night, to lay down with us before he had to go back to work. I remember all of the nights me and Avery would eat dinner, and my Dad would just sit at the table with us without eating because there was not enough food. I remember all of the days were I found him on the couch, practically in tears. I never knew why he was crying when I was little, but I think I know now.

It was hard for my Dad working so hard, and barely getting anything out of it. I knew about my Uncle Jack. I remember him just a little bit. When I was younger, I just thought that my Dad missed his brother since he was gone in heaven. But my Dad told me the whole story only a couple of years ago. He told me about the night my Uncle died, and he told me about what his horrible parents did to him. The day he told me, we were both crying, and I left with even more respect and love for my father that I thought was even possible.

I pulled up to the diner, and saw that my Dad's car was already there. I walked in, and found him at our usual booth. He already had a cup of coffee, and he looked tired. I sat down across from him, and despite his tired eyes, he still gave me a warm smile. "Hey, baby."

"Hey Dad, are you feeling okay? You look kind of tired." I asked, concerned for him.

"Yeah I am just tired; I haven't really got much sleep these past couple of days." He said and took a sip of his coffee.

"Mom still sick?" I asked. Mom got the flu last week. Dad has been staying home from work, and taking care of her and the twins and Amelia.

"Yeah, but she is getting better. Amelia was up all night throwing up, so I stood up with her. Then Avery called me at three this morning." He said and rubbed his tired face with his hands.

"At three? What did she want?"

"She was just freaking out about Spencer." He said simply and I understood. Spencer was going on another tour in just five days. This will be his second tour, and each one gets harder and harder for Avery.

"Oh, but she is alright now right?"

"As alright as she will ever be, I guess."

"Well what about you Dad? How are you doing?" I asked.

"Oh I'm fine, honey. You know I may have had my daughter throw up all over my shirt last night, and stubbed my toe on the bed, but I have nothing to complain about." He said with a wave of his hand and a smile. "Although, the move at work is kind of stressful." He said and ran his hand through his hair.

"Oh yeah how is that going?" Dad has been trying to move his music school to a better area. The building they started off with was nice, but it was getting small for the growing amount of new kids he got. He has been working to try and get it moved for a while now.

"It's good I guess, we got a new place, but I just need to hire all the movers and blah blah blah. I don't want to talk about work." He said in the middle of his sentence and I laughed. So we continued talking throughout the rest of the half an hour we were there. Mostly I did the talking as I talked to him about my job, all of the new and interesting people I meet, and my friends. The thing I liked about talking to my Dad was that he really was interesting in every little thing I talked about. He genuinely wanted to hear what I had to say.

We were just finishing up when my Dad's phone rang. He held his hand up to me and looked at the caller ID. He smiled when he saw it, and he answered. "Hello, love." I smiled because I knew just how much my Mom and Dad were in love with each other. My Mom saved my Dad when they met…she saved all of us really. She was an amazing mother, and we all loved her dearly.

He talked with her for a couple of seconds before he took the phone off of his ear and looked to me. "Honey? Do you think you could take Cadence and Axel for a couple of hours today?"

"Sure." I said right away. I like spending time with my younger siblings, I wasn't around much when they were really little because I was in school, but now I try to spend as much time with them as I can. After all, they are my siblings and I love them. It also feels good to be able to help Mom and Dad.

He said a sincere thank you and then told Mom that I agreed. He ended the call with an I love you to my Mom and then smiled at me. "Thank you for watching them, baby. I need to go to work today and get things straightened out, and your Mom is supposed to go out with Grandpa today so…" He said and sighed loudly.

"Dad, it is fine. You need to calm down a little, old man." I teased him.

He let out a quick laugh. "I'm not that old." He defended and started taking money out of his wallet to pay for his coffee and muffin. I got my money out also. We both got out of the booth and I panicked when my Dad but his hand to his forehead and stumbled back a couple of steps. I instantly reached out for his arm, because it looked like he was going to fall over.

"Oh my God, Dad. Are you okay?" I asked, panicking. Ever since I was little, it was hard for me to see my Dad in any kind of distress or pain. Even now, watching as he almost lost his balance and fell over; I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest.

"I'm fine, I think I just got up to fast, and got a little dizzy that's all." He said and led me out to my car, like he always does.

"Are you sure you are alright? Maybe I should go and get you a glass of water or something…" I said and started walking back to the diner, but my Dad pulled me back and wrapped his arms around me. I instantly relaxed being in the arms of my father, and hugged him back.

He kissed the top of my head. "You need to stop worrying about me so much, sweetheart."

"I can't help it, I always worry for you…you're my Daddy."

"Exactly, I am the one who has to be worrying about you 24/7." He said and pulled away.

"You already do that." I said with a roll of my eyes.

"So I guess we are both to worrisome for our own good."

I nodded my head in agreement and we made plans for him to drop off Axel and Cadence at my house at noon. Amelia was at a friend's house, so she wouldn't be joining us. As I was driving off, my phone started ringing. I picked it up without looking at the caller ID because I was driving.

"Hello?"

"Hey, bitch." My friend Amanda said on the other end. She was definitely one of my more crazy friends. She liked to drink, smoke, have sex, and party. She was a nice person though, and she was fun to hang out with.

"Well hello Amanda, it is so good to hear from you and your cheerful self." I said sarcastically.

"Yeah I know, but are you done having a tea party with your Daddy?" Amanda thought it was the weirdest thing that I would willingly go and hang out with my Dad every week. Her father walked out when she was a baby, and I felt bad that she never got the chance to have a Dad like mine.

"I am finished meeting with my Dad this morning, yes. Why?"

"Well I wanted to go out tonight and I thought we could go shopping for some fuck awesome outfits."

"I could probably go out tonight, but I can't go shopping, I am looking after my little brother and sister." I explained to her.

"Are you serious, Harper? You are like frigging old lady! You sit home with your cat, take pictures, hang with old people, and watch little kids for enjoyment." I tried not to get snappy with Amanda. I hate when people remind me of how boring my life is, and how boring I am. I have always been a conservative person, and God knows I have tried to be 'fun' every now and then, but every time I do, I just don't enjoy myself. My friends have dragged me to every club and bar in the Boston area, and I just don't see the enjoyment in it.

I would much rather stay home, read a good book, or just have a comfortable and intelligent conversation with someone. I don't like going to parties, drink the night away, and grind up on some dufus who is so drunk off his ass he doesn't even know who you are.

As a result of this boringness, it became difficult for me to find a significant other…and that sucked. I mean, I am definitely an independent woman, and don't necessarily need a boyfriend, but I want it. I want it so fucking bad.

There are a lot of loving couples in my family, Uncle Carlisle and Aunt Esme; Uncle Jasper and Aunt Alice; Uncle Emmett and Aunt Rose; my Mom and Dad; and even Avery and Spencer. I see how each of them look at each other, my Mom and Dad are the perfect example and I have seen their relationship more. I see how each of them look at each other when the other walks in the room. I see how they bicker back and forth, but it is always with love. I see how they always try and steal kisses or just be touching when they are in the same room. I see how my Dad would rub my mother's feet every night. I see how my Mom always puts a blanket over Dad and kiss his forehead when he falls asleep on the couch after a long day at work, or just playing with his kids all day.

I want all of those things, I crave it. I just feel I have so much love inside me that I just want to give to someone. I give love to my family and friends, because they are all I have, but I would love to give that to a man that I deeply and truly love. It was just hard to find 'the one' though. And I have tried many times. It seems all of the men I have ever attempted to date have been after one thing. It's the only thing it seems men ever want.

Sex.

I have been told by men endless amounts of times how hot or sexy or bangin' I am, but never have I heard I was beautiful or even cute or pretty. The only man that has ever told me I was beautiful was my father. Jesse never even said it. He has called me back a couple of times after we broke up, and told me he missed me and begged me to move to Washington with him, and even though I did love him, I just wasn't in love with him. And it was until he called me to see if he could fly back here and we could have sex that I knew where his true intentions were.

After that, I knew I wasn't going to give it up so easily. I gave my virginity up to Jesse because I thought I loved him, and he loved me. Yeah, guess not. I felt so stupid wasting my time dating him, really. I felt so stupid and naïve.

"Sorry if I like to hang out with my family, Amanda."I said, slightly irritated.

"Well whatever, I will call you later then?" She asked.

"Yeah, call me later." We said our goodbyes and both hung up. I made my way home so I could straighten up before the twins got to my house.

I sat on my couch and played around with my cat, Banana, as I waited for my Dad to drop off the kids. Yes, my cat was named Banana. I actually have Abbey and my niece to thank for that one. Abbey just got married last year, but that wasn't until after she had her first baby and my first niece. Her name is Annabelle Esme Walker. Abbey got pregnant with her unexpectedly with her boyfriend, Daniel. She had been dating Daniel for six months when she got pregnant. She really loved Daniel, but she was scared shit to have a baby. Daniel was a good guy though, and he accepted the baby with open arms, and they have been together ever since Annabelle has been born, including getting married last year.

Annabelle was just the cutest little thing. She was two years old, with her Dad's black curly hair, and her Mom's piercing blue eyes. I was her godmother, and I was sure to spoil her whenever I could.

Anyways, my cat's name was Banana because of a bet I lost with Abbey. I honestly don't even remember what the bet was exactly about, but I do remember her telling me that Annabelle had to name my cat if I lost. Turns out when we asked Annabelle—this was just two months ago—she was hungry for some Banana's, so Abbey said that was the name. Banana. Abbey lived about an hour away from the rest of us, and I was glad we were able to hang out every once in a while.

I heard the beep of a horn outside, and saw Cadence and Axel walk out of the car and up to the front door of my apartment. I buzzed them in and opened the door; I could hear their feet running up the stairs. Axel was first and he had a victorious expression on his face. When he got to the top of the steps he turned toward Cadence. "Ha ha, I told you I would beat you!" He said and then stuck his tongue out.

I saw Cadence just rolled her eyes and made the rest of the way up, not rushing at all. It was obvious she was used to Axel being like that. Axel ran up to me and hugged me around my waist. "You look pretty today." He said as he looked up at me with his big green eyes. This was Axel's usual greeting to me, but it didn't stop me from just melting at his words. He was just so cute and charming.

I bent down and kissed him on the top of his head. "And you look cute today." I said and ruffled his dark hair as he walked by me into the house.

He scoffed. "I am not cute. I am a man. I am studly and handsome."

I laughed and rolled my eyes. He was definitely just like my Dad, only more confident I guess you could say. He was the most conceited eight year old I think I will ever meet but he was still humble. I don't know, it was hard to explain. Cadence gave me a quick hug and a hello before walking in after Axel. I walked into the living room and found them fighting over the remote.

"Give me the remote, Axel." Cadence said while tugging on it, but Axel had a good grip on the other side.

"No, I got it first." He said and effectively ripped the remote out of Cadence's hands causing her to fall back on her butt. I walked up to her and helped her to her feet. "Axel, that was not very nice."

"Yeah but I had it first!" He said and threw his arms up in the air and let them fall dramatically to his side.

"So, it doesn't mean you can rip it from her and let her fall. Say sorry." I looked over at Cadence and saw she moved to the couch and was just sitting there with her arms crossed. I was surprised that she wasn't mad or anything.

"Sorry." He said grudgingly, but still looked at her.

"Okay, now can you guys agree on a channel or do I have to pick it for you?"

"No, it's okay he can watch TV." Cadence said softly.

I gave the remote to Axel and he slouched down on the couch. It was strange seeing him so down, because he is usually always smiling and joking around. I turned to Cadence next. "Cade, do you want to help me with lunch?" I asked, and her face lit up and she nodded her head. We walked over to the kitchen, and I got stuff out to make American Chop Suey.

We began working and I decided to talk with my youngest sister. "So how have you been, Cade?"

She shrugged her shoulders while getting the spices together. "I'm good. Axel has been in a bad mood lately though." I could tell that him being in a bad mood was bothering her. I guess it is a twin's intuition or something.

"Yeah I kind of noticed, do you know what it wrong?"

"He gets sad because Daddy is working all the time now."

"Yeah, but he won't be working that much all the time, things are just busy now." I told her as I saw she was getting even sadder.

"Yeah, that is what Mommy said, but Axel still gets sad."

I kissed her forehead. "Well we will just have to fix that won't we?" I asked and she smiled wide.

"I beat you! And I beat you! I am the master of Candy Land!" Axel yelled and put his arms up in the air and looked at the ceiling, trying to look strong. I was surprised that Axel and Cadence have never played Candy Land, but I still had the old board game that Dad bought for me and Avery all those years ago. It was pretty worn out, but we still had all the pieces, and it did the job. Axel thought it was great that he was winning so much. Cadence didn't get mad when he would rub it in our face though, which was very nice to see. I know me and Avery always fought with each other when the other won, but Cadence just looked happy for him. She was a little too nice.

"Can we play again?" Cadence asked as Axel was dancing around in his spot and got out the air guitar.

"No, Mom will be here any minute to pick you guys up. Do you think you can both help me pick up some of this stuff?" Cadence nodded her head 'yes' and started putting the pieces away. I looked over at Axel and saw he was still jumping around. "Axel, help me put these snacks away."

"Yes, Ma'am." He said with a salute. I rolled my eyes and started picking up our cups. Axel went to bring some snacks in the kitchen. We finished cleaning up, and I buzzed Mom in when I heard the doorbell ring. Mom came upstairs and both twins ran to her when she walked in. She smiled and laughed at them and then came over to hug me.

"Hi, honey." She said while hugging me tightly.

"Hi, Mom." I pulled away and looked at her, she looked a little thinner since I saw her last week, but she just got over the flu, so it was understandable. "Come on I will walk you guys to the car." I said as we all started heading out the door.

Axel and Cadence both jumped in the back seat and Mom leaned against the car to talk for a minute. "So how have you been, Harper?"

I shrugged my shoulders, "It has been alright just the same old. How about you? How was your day with grandpa, you look kind of mad or something."

"Oh I had a great time with my father, but it is your father that is driving me up a wall."

"Oh God, what did he do now?"

"You seen him this morning, didn't you?"

"Yeah…"

"Well did you not notice how horrible he looks?"

"I mean, he looked a little tired but…"

"Yeah, a little tired. That man does not know when to stop. He takes the whole world on his shoulders and he just doesn't know when to stop." She threw her arms up. "I keep telling him that he is getting older and needs to calm down a little. He comes home exhausted all the time, and he barely sleeps at night. He is working way more than he needs to, and it is because he would rather not burden other people with it. Your father's unselfishness is one of the things I love the most about him, but not when his unselfishness starts affecting him negatively like this."

She sighed loudly after her rant. "Oh Mom, I am sure he will be fine. Dad is a tuff cookie."

She laughed at my wording and pulled me in for one more hug. "I love you, sweetie. You need to come visit more. I miss you being around."

"I know I miss you too, Mom. I have just been busy you know?"

She pulled away and kissed my forehead. "I know I will call you later okay honey?"

"Yup."

"Awww shit…this is my song." Amanda yelled before having another shot and slamming the small glass on the bar top. She grabbed my hand in both of hers. "Come on Harper; let's show these boys what they are missing."

I pried her hands away. "Uh no, you know I do not dance." It wasn't that I couldn't dance, it was just this is not what I considered dancing. All of the times I have ever tried to just enjoy myself and dance, I always end up with a drunk asshole rubbing himself on me. Some may think that is fun, me…not so much.

"You are such a party pooper!" She yelled over the music, and I could tell she was already buzzed. "Whatever, I will be right back." She walked off and started dancing her way to the middle of the dance floor. I turned and took a drink of my water. Yes, water. I wasn't much of a drinker. I have had a drink here or there, but I never drank enough to get drunk. I just didn't like the idea of me not being in control of anything. Plus, I knew what happened to my Dad when he got drunk. I know stuff like that doesn't happen all the time, but why chance it?

I was looking after Amanda, who now had a drunk guy rubbing up against her, when my phone started vibrating in my pocket. I groaned when I saw it was Jesse, and I just ignored it for two reasons. One, I didn't really want to talk to him, and two, I would not be able to hear him over this music. I felt my phone vibrate again, and I picked it up to see it was now a text from Jesse. I opened it up and read the words.

I see you.

Okay, that is creepy. I turned my head to my left, then to the right and jumped when he was right next to me. "Hey, Harps." He said with a smile and obnoxiously chewing his gum.

"Hi Jesse." I could smell the alcohol and mint on his breath, and could tell from his eyes that he was drunk. Great.

"Come and dance with me, baby." He slurred and started tugging my arm, almost making me fall off of the stool.

"Get off of me, Jesse." I screamed, but it didn't sound as loud as I wanted it to because of the loud music. He held onto my wrist tighter, and it began to hurt. I was trying to pry his hands off but it wasn't working, so I did the only thing I could think of. I kneed him in the balls.

His hold on my wrist immediately loosened and his went to cover the spot where I just kneed him and he groaned in pain. I have never become physically violent with someone, but what was I supposed to do? He was hurting me and he is drunk.

"You know what Harper, I am done with you." Thank God. "You are such a fucking prude it makes me sick." Wait, what? "You are nothing but a bitch who thinks no one will ever be good enough for you. So go fuck yourself, alright? You go on and live your miserable life, and continue being boring, and not fun for your whole life." He flipped me off and then stumbled away, leaving me hurt.

I shouldn't be hurt. No I shouldn't, but I was. Deep down, I knew what he said was wrong. I don't think I am a bitch, I am always trying to do good things for people, and I am very supportive and loving to everyone in my family. And I definitely don't think I am a prude, just because I don't want to have sex with him every time I see him, or don't drink doesn't make me a prude. And my life isn't miserable…I think.

So what if that is how people perceive me? I wouldn't want that. I don't want people to think I am a bitch or a prude, because I am not. Jesse is just stupid. I hate him. I can't believe there was a time when I did actually love him. I was stupid.

I wiped away the tears that were just about to fall as I saw Amanda coming back over to me. "Hey girly, are you actually having fun, or should we just go?" I could tell she didn't really want to go, but she was just doing it for me.

"No, I'm fine." I made sure not to look in her eyes so she didn't see that I was almost crying. I just don't understand why he said that. I don't want people to think that about me. "Hey Amanda?"

She looked over as she put a peanut from the bowl on bar in her mouth. "Hmm?"

"Give me a shot of whatever you are having."

I will show him fun.

I opened my eyes, and felt something tickling on my face. I could feel my head pounding from the inside, and I just wanted to make it go away. I opened my eyes, and yelped in pain as the bright sun hit my eyes and caused the pounding in my head to increase. This sun was too bright. I tried to figure out where I was, but I felt nothing familiar. I covered my eyes to block them from the sun, and then slowly opened my eyes.

It still hurt a little once they were open, but not as bad as before. I looked in front of me and the first thing I saw was a fire hydrant.

What the fuck?

I looked around frantically, ignoring the pounding in my head that was increasing as I moved my head. I almost had a panic attack when I saw that I was on the front lawn of someone's house. It was bright and sunny out. Oh my God, what happened last night?

I turned to look behind me, and saw that Amanda was also lying in the middle of the lawn. I noticed it was her lawn we were on. I crawled over to Amanda and tried to shake her awake. I knew there was no way I could carry her inside, and I felt like shit. One reason was for my massive intake of alcohol last night, and another reason was the possibilities of what could have happened to us last night when were passed out drunk on a lawn in the middle of Boston. We got lucky. I was so stupid.

"Amanda…Amanda…get up." I called as I shook her.

"Fuck off…" She groaned and rolled over.

"Amanda, we are on your front lawn. Get up." I said with a raised voice that caused my head to hurt even more.

She finally started to get up and blocked her eyes like I had. We both stumbled to her front door and she got her keys out to open the door. I just wanted to go back to sleep. Amanda made it as far as her couch, and she collapsed on it with another groan. I was about to take the other couch, when I felt myself lying on my phone that was poking me in the hip. I groaned and pulled it out of my pocket. I opened it and noticed three surprising things.

It was 12 o'clock noon.

My battery was seconds away from dying.

And I had 43 missed calls.

Shit.

I was just about to check who the calls were from, when my phone died. Well this day is just turning out to be just dandy.

I walked over into Amanda's kitchen and took out the charger I knew she had in one of the drawers. We both had the same phone so it worked out good. I plugged in my phone and went to the fridge to get something to drink. What do you drink when you have a hangover?

I decided to just have a bottle of water. Water never hurt anything right? I took a couple of sips and went to my phone when I saw it was back on. I checked to see who the calls were from, and I nearly dropped my bottle of water when I saw they were all from Avery.

I put my bottle of water on the counter and instantly called her number back. What happened that she had to call me 43 times?

She answered on the first ring. "Oh my God, Harper, is that you?" I heard Avery ask frantically and I could tell she was panicking and crying.

"Yeah it's me, what happened?"

"Oh my God," I heard her say and could hear her sobbing and it sounded muffled. "Go tell my Mom she is alright." I heard her say away from the phone and I began to feel my hands shake listening to how broken up she sounded. "Harper?"

"Yeah, what is the matter Avery?"

"Oh Harper I was so worried, I have called you over and over again all this time and you didn't answer. I thought something happened and…you are okay right?"

She was talking so fast, my aching head was having a hard time keeping up. "I am fine, Avery."

"Well where were you? Grandpa went to your house and you weren't there, and then Mom started freaking out even more." She was rambling and I was losing my mind.

"Avery!" I yelled as loud as I could to make her stop and make her focus. "I am fine, it is a long story but why did you have to call me in the first place?"

"You need to come to the hospital like now."

"What?" I asked and I could feel a lump forming in my throat.

"It's Dad, he had a heart attack."

The second part will be out tomorrow. Don't hate me too much. :]

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