{Courtney's POV}

I got worried for Karina and ratted myself out about being her mother to my friends. Everything happened so fast and I didn't think before I opened my mouth. How could I even think when I was watching Karina be unable to breathe right until Harvey pulled out the inhaler? That's when I realized she had asthma and I panicked, demanding for Harvey to tell me why he didn't say anything about it. Harvey gave the response I expected but not the one I wanted, he said that if I had stayed with him then I would have known the night Harvey took Kari to the hospital and then added that he needed to take care of his daughter and turned from me, taking a few steps away. I tried to follow him but Heather cut me off and demanded I stay back because I had hurt Harvey enough already.

What did I do? Harvey confirmed to the others that the truth was out now, which meant to me that they figured out by my words that I was Karina's mother even though since the beginning of July 2018 when I walked out on Harvey, I had been telling them I knew nothing. This coming out meant they knew I lied to them about everything. I fully anticipated them to be pissed with me, demanding to know the truth but I didn't care, I just wanted to talk to Harvey and hold my daughter. Right now, Heather was standing in front of me with her arms crossed over her chest and a firm look in her eyes that was daring me to take one step forward.

The area was silent, crickets could be heard if anyone listening close enough. The tension around the small group was thick with anger, hurt, and a lot of confusion. I knew that Ashlyn, Rylee, Tyler, Ford, Syrus, and Dominic were more than shocked to learn what they did. I wasn't sure if Ellie, Andrew, and Sydney were as confused, they did know about Harvey taking off a month into Junior year of High School, and anything else that my friends had told them since Harvey turned up as the head dragon trainer for the University. I could hear Karina still coughing a bit, I just wanted to hold her and make sure she was all right.

"Kari okay?" came the young voice belonging to Owen, Ellie's son.

Harvey had his back to them and sighed before turning and offering a smile to Owen who was standing next to his mother now, "Yeah, she's okay now. Kari just got a little over excited," Harvey told him.

"Oh!" Owen replied, "Can I play with her still?"

"Owen, I think we should let Harvey take Karina home so she can rest," Ellie stated.

"But he said that Kari was okay," Owen protested. Ellie sighed a little and smiled as she knelt down next to her son.

"Owen, do you remember how tired you feel after you have your attacks?" Ellie asked him, and Owen nodded to her, "Well, Karina has attacks too, ones that make it hard for her to breath and the medicine that Harvey gives her makes her a little tired, so her body can recover. So we should let Kari go home to rest," she informed.

"Okay, mama," Owen nodded then looked up at Harvey who held Kari in his arms, "Feel better soon, Kari," he said.

"Tanks, Owen," Kari replied before yawning and laying her head on Harvey's shoulder. The daycare teachers had come over after rounding up the other children; there was only eight of them in total. I watched as the teacher approached Harvey and put her hands out to take Karina, but Harvey turned to prevent her from doing so.

"Mr. Haddock, I can take her with me back to the daycare room. We didn't realize that you would be out here with a class," the woman stated.

"I explicitly said after winter break ended that we don't know what triggers the attacks and until we finished running tests to determine such triggers, I didn't want her outside without asking first. You don't have her inhaler with you, it's in the room still. What would you have done if I wasn't close by with mine?" Harvey stated firmly and the daycare woman stepped back looking down, "This situation could have been a lot worse. I will take Karina for the rest of the day," he added.

"Of course, my apologies, Mr. Haddock. It won't happen again," the woman replied to him.

"Ensure that it doesn't," Harvey said as his eyes moved to the group that stood there, still in shock. Harvey sighed, and Heather lowered her arms, facing him with a gentle look in her eyes.

"How is Kari doing?" Heather inquired.

"She's okay, just tired. I'm going to take her to the dorm, will you finish my classes today please?" Harvey asked.

"Certainly, Harvey. You worry about your daughter, I'll deal with all this," Heather nodded to him.

"Thanks. Come on baby girl, let's get home," Harvey told Karina, and he began walking away. This was my chance.

"Harvey, I want to see her, please?" I tried.

"Give me one good reason why I should, Courtney?" Harvey retorted coldly.

"Reason? She's my daughter; I have the right to see her." I replied.

"You lost that right the day you walked out on her and me," Harvey snapped, and I bit back some, I didn't like when he was angry with me, but he did have the right to be. Harvey closed his eyes and began walking again.

"I was wrong, Harvey!" I shouted at him and he stopped to look back, "And I am so sorry for leaving. I have regretted that choice since I stepped foot back in Berk," Harvey's eyes narrowed now.

"Then why didn't you come back? Tell me that. If you regretted your choice when you got back into Berk, why didn't you just come back and we could have talked about things?" Harvey asked.

"I was scared you would be upset with me; I knew how much I hurt you and I-I didn't want to fight," I answered.

"YES, IT UPSET ME!" Harvey yelled, and I stepped back, "I come home from the hospital with our daughter to tell you that she's okay and only found a note saying you were leaving! I called everyone I knew to ask if they had seen you and I couldn't call you because you left the phone behind. What was I supposed to do after that? You left me a single father!"

"I'm sorry! I was stupid, and I made a horrible choice that night, I'd given anything to take it back. I'll do anything to have you and Karina back, please? I love you both so much, and I want to come home, have the family and future we talked about," I pleaded.

Harvey closed his eyes and began walking again, he paused a moment to look back at me and I saw the pain in his emerald eyes, "You had all that, Court, but still walked away and pretended it never happened. If you had come back that day and told me everything you just did, I would have taken you back and forgiven you in a heartbeat. But waiting almost three years, knowing you wanted me back and choosing to stay away? I can't forgive that, I'm sorry. I do love you, Odin knows a part of me always will, but I can't forgive what you did to not just me, but her too," Harvey motioned to Karina. I didn't know what to say or do to stop him and I watched him walk away from me with our daughter in his arms.

"I hope you're happy with yourself," Heather remarked now as her arms returned to their crossed position over her chest. "Hurting him once wasn't enough for you, was it?"

"I never meant to hurt him, Heather," I whimpered a bit.

"You DID hurt him. Harvey called me at ten o'clock at night in tears over what you did," Heather informed. "You broke his heart, Courtney. Harvey was a mess; he couldn't handle it,"

"W-What do you mean he couldn't handle it?" Ellie asked, "He didn't try to hurt himself, did he?" My eyes widened hearing Ellie's question. Harvey wouldn't have tried to hurt himself, would he?

"He did, he might not even be alive if it weren't for me going over to his place when he didn't show up to work for two days. I found Karina asleep in her room and Harvey black out drunk on the couch covered in vomit with a note on the table saying he couldn't do this anymore," Heather replied. I felt my chest tightened, Harvey almost drank himself to death because of what I did.

"You got him the help he needed, didn't you sis?" Dominic inquired.

"I did. I called over Thaxter, explained what happened. We got Harvey in the shower and sobered him up, then brought over all the trainers from DSS, including the boss for intervention. We knew after seeing him in that state that if we didn't stop it right away, it would get worse. Took a few weeks but we got him back on his feet to taking care of himself and Karina, then he started coming to work again and I would babysit for him," Heather explained to the small group.

"I should have come back. It's all my fault," I lowered my head.

"You never should have left!" Heather yelled at me, and I winced a bit. "I know everything, Courtney. And it all boils down to you not giving a damn about him,"

"How dare you tell me I don't care about him!" I stated quickly.

"No you don't because you left him. Harvey gave up everything to take care of you and that little girl before she was even born. Harvey was the one working six days a week to provide the money for meals, clothes, bills, the roof over your heads. Not you. Harvey might not have been able to give you everything you wanted like a car or a better place to live, but he ALWAYS gave you and Karina his love. It didn't matter how tired he was from work, he would come home and give whatever energy he had left to you two and always with a smile because he didn't need anything more than knowing his fiance and daughter were taken care of." Heather glared.

I flinched at Heather's anger, "You were going to be his wife, Courtney! Not his girlfriend, not his fiance but his WIFE. Harvey proposed to you on Christmas 2017, and you would have been planning your wedding all through 2018, then married in April 2019. You two would be married already if you hadn't broken his heart by leaving him for your selfish reasons that you suddenly regret now." Heather added as I closed my eyes because she was right.

"Well, it doesn't matter now, does it? Harvey had you, seems like I got replaced pretty damn quick," I retorted.

"Excuse me?" Heather's eyes widened a little. "Is that what you think, that I replaced you?"

"It's the truth. Harvey admitted to it when he told us that you two had sex before at random to deal with shit in your lives. I left him, so he has sex with you to kill the pain?" I remarked with a huff.

"You are a fucking idiot if you think that having sex with me made Harvey forget about you," Heather said as I looked at her quickly, "I didn't replace you. Harvey thought about you all the time. Every single time after we finished, he got mad at himself or cried. That's how much it hurt him, because he secretly always hoped you would come back and he felt like he was betraying you by sleeping with me,"

"Then why have you two done it so many times?" Rylee asked.

"It was convenient. We were always drunk when we did it. That's another fact for you, Courtney. Harvey couldn't have sex with me sober because he was always thinking of you and worried you would walk through the door and catch us. Never hammered drunk, just enough to relax. It was usually him drunk, and me buzzed," Heather informed.

"Does he still drink?" I asked softly.

"Occasionally. A beer or two since he doesn't drink hard or at least not anymore," Heather shrugged.

"Why do you let him! It almost killed him," I snapped.

"That was because he shut everyone out and we didn't know. I don't let him drink alone, he knows to call me if he feels like drinking. Don't you dare come at me saying I don't care because I have been there for him, to help pick up the broken pieces of his heart that you shattered. It will be three years at the start of July since you left him, and the pain is still as fresh as the day it happened. I let him drink because he keeps him from breaking down over you. Never forget this, Courtney, I didn't come back to my hometown and lie to my friends about why I disappeared for almost two years. I didn't walk out on my fiance and one year old daughter on the shit reasoning that I missed my old life!" Heather yelled angrily and then she closed her eyes and took a breath. That stung for me to hear, sadly, it was true.

"I'm not trying to hurt you, but you need to understand how much you hurt him. Why do you think he froze in his steps when you said you regretted your choice? Because he's only been praying to hear those words, then he remembers that it took three years for you to say them because you were afraid to face him," Heather added and I looked down, "Harvey walked away and returned to his dorm because he's upset. I bet my next paycheck that he put Karina down for a nap and now he's sitting on the couch, crying, because it still hurts him,"

"Harvey doesn't seem the type to cry," Tyler mentioned. I watched Heather pull her phone out and dial Harvey's number, then put it on speakerphone. When it connected after three rings, the first thing they heard was sniffling.

"Yeah?" Harvey asked, and the cracked tone was easy to hear.

"I just wanted to check on you, Harv. Where's Kari?" Heather asked.

"Down for a nap," Harvey replied. I watched Heather put a finger up.

"And where are you?" Heather inquired.

"On the couch," Harvey answered, Heather then put up a second finger, meaning she was referring to the fact she said Kari would be napping and Harvey on the couch crying.

"I can tell you've been crying," Heather pointed out.

"Been crying...I still am, Heather. How can I not? I've prayed, hoped, begged, and pleaded the Gods for her to say those words to me. To want to come home, to share our lives again. Do you know how hard it was for me to tell her no?" Harvey cried. Gods, I hated myself right now. So Harvey did want me but was forcing himself to say no.

"I know it was hard. Are you going to be okay?" Heather asked him.

"I-I don't know if I'm going to be okay anymore," Harvey sobbed. We saw Heather's face turn to worry.

"Harvey, I don't like how you're talking, and I'm starting to get concerned," Heather questioned. No answer and Harvey's crying seemed to be getting farther away. "Harvey!" she said louder this time.

"I just want the pain to stop, I don't want to feel this way," they heard him say in a broken voice.

"Harvey, you're starting to scare me. I'm coming over right now and canceling your classes the rest of today. Don't you dare hurt yourself or hang up on me," Heather told him. "Put your dragons away and get back to the main building," she said while taking the phone off speaker. "Gobber! Make sure they do as they are told. Harvey, I'm on my way," Heather said as she jumped into Windshear's saddle and took off. I didn't know what to say, think, or do. Hearing it the way I did, it killed me inside to know I hurt Harvey this much. To a point Heather was worried that he would try and hurt himself if he was alone. This was all my fault, I didn't blame Harvey for not forgiving me. Hell, I wouldn't even forgive myself. Not only had I lost Harvey, but I broke him too.

{Regular POV}

Heather reached the staff dorms and rushed to Harvey's in fear since the call ended while she was flying there. Heather grabbed her key and unlocked the door while hurrying inside to see Harvey on the floor against the wall with the tears falling from his eyes. Heather shut the door and made her way over to him, checking to make sure he hadn't hurt himself. Assuring herself he was physically okay, Heather put her hand on his as he rolled his head to look at her. It broke Heather's heart to see Harvey like this, three years later and still hurting this much.

Heather did notice, though, that Harvey was holding something in his hand. Heather opened his hand slowly and saw the engagement ring he'd given to Courtney. Heather's eyes began forming tears in them as she looked at Harvey sadly, "I still love her," Harvey whimpered out. Heather just sat down next to him and pulled Harvey into her arms tightly as Harvey continued to cry. It was evident to Heather now, things made sense why after all this time it would hurt Harvey like this.

When Courtney left Harvey, he broke down and fell into depression over it until Heather and the others from DSS got him back on his feet. Over two years until returning to Berk, Harvey was away from Courtney and the distance helped. It was enough for Harvey to continue working and living his life to better Karina's. But now, Harvey was around Courtney every day and today, Courtney did something Harvey had been hoping for since the night she left him. Courtney said she regretted her choice and wanted to come home and be a family with him and Karina again. The whole situation was too much for Harvey. Heather would not let him fall back to that place, if she had to call the others again she would but for now she was just going to sit with him and let him break down.