The morning was offensively bright and cheerful with its crystal clear skies and warm breezes. It didn't match Harper's mood whatsoever. Her mind continued to be overrun with anxious thoughts and what-ifs due to the secrets she was keeping. Secrets that grew more complicated as time went on. The fine line grew blurry between the truth and lies until it was all she could think about over the last couple of days.

With Olivia's help the other day, Harper made up her mind to tell her friends. However, she had yet to act in it.

She would but just not yet.

Because if there was anything she was better at than keeping secrets, it was procrastinating.

Harper knew she needed to tell her friends. She wanted to tell them but she was terrified of their reaction and the thought of losing them. So, she chose to delay the inevitable for a little bit longer even if it meant dealing with her increasing anxiety.

As for Kreese's threat, Harper still had five days until he would act on it. She hoped that before the deadline, her friends would finally know the truth. As scary as it was, she wanted the truth to come from her and not him.

So for the next few days, she would live in a blissful denial that her world wasn't going to implode.

For the sake of pretending that everything was fine, she put on a smile that matched the day's sunny personality because she would be damned if life tried to screw with her.

Harper entered the vast clearing where she'd spent hours upon hours training in. The dried-up grass crunched under her sneakers from a lack of rain as she navigated her way toward one of the shadier spots in the area. The day was already warm with the threat of another relentless heatwave.

The fake smile turned genuine while her heart did its annoying little flutter upon seeing Hawk. "Hey."

Surprise crossed his face as he turned to her. "You're actually not late for once".

"What's that supposed to mean? I'm always on time."

"Always?" He asked with a knowing smirk to which she rolled her eyes.

"Okay, fine. I was late one time," she admitted before crossing her arms. "You know the first day never really counts. Besides, it was technically kinda your fault since you didn't tell me what time to be here."

"Okay but what's your excuse the other seven or eight times?"

"Wha- Oh, come on! You know that I have to walk here, right? It takes me like twenty minutes just to get here."

"That's not an excuse. I offered to pick you up almost every day but you keep saying no."

"Well, yeah, because it's a terrible idea."

"Fine, so enjoy your walk," he said but flashed her one of his signature smiles.

Harriet glared but couldn't stop a smile off her own from appearing. But that smile faltered when she noticed the bruises on his face. "What happened? Did you get in a fight with someone?"

"Yeah. With Miguel," he said with a sigh.

"Miguel?"

"Relax, foster, it was during practice. We were at Coyote Creek the other day and I kinda lost."

"Yeah, no kidding," she said softly, though didn't look comforted by the explanation as she was aware of how brutal practice was at Cobra Kai. "You sure you're okay?"

"I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me."

"Yeah, well, too bad."

"It honestly barely even hurts," he told her reassuringly. "You know what did hurt? When you kicked me in the ribs a few weeks ago. I think I had bruises for weeks, and it hurt to breathe. Like, a lot."

"Okay now you're just being a jerk," Harper said before adding, "but I'm glad you're okay."

He smiled in reply as if suddenly embarrassed by her caring.

"So read for practice?" Harper asked, dropping her bag on the ground. "I think I can kick your butt again."

"I doubt that. You were just lucky that one time."

"Hm, I don't think so."

"Let's find out then," he said with a smile. "But don't think I'm gonna go easy on you just because we…."

"Just because we what?" Harper asked, a smile tugging at her lips.

Hawk blinked. "Oh, uhm, you know. Since we…. Since what happened the other day. You know, at the dojo and I - I mean, we…," he trailed off with uncertainty, frustrated with his stuttering and lack of a real answer.

"No, go on. I'm really curious about what you think happened that day." Harper pressed her lips together to keep from laughing at his flustered expression.

"You know what I'm talking about," he said with a sigh.

"Yeah, but I kinda want to hear you say it."

Not finding her amusement funny, he scowled and shook his head. "You know what, foster? Forget it. Practice is canceled, so have a fun walk home."

"Okaynowaitimsorry," she said in a rush before surprising them both with a kiss.

"I'm still not going easy on you," he told her quietly, grinning.

"Good. I wouldn't want you to."

Like promised, Hawk didn't go easy on her. Or perhaps it was the lesson that was difficult. Whatever the reason, Harper struggled more than ever. It was as if time somehow rewound itself and this was her first lesson all over again. Her clumsy and uncoordinated moves frustrated both her and Hawk. It took everything in her to ignore his side comments because she knew he was trying to help.

Gritting her teeth, Harper pushed on with the lesson turned spar. She went over the moves in her mind but her body refused to cooperate. Whatever she told it to do, it did the opposite. So when it came time to block an attack, she failed drastically.

Tiny dots swam in her vision when Harper opened her eyes. The throbbing in her head and the dull ache in her arm from where she'd landed on it melted into one big shot of pain. One minute, she'd been training and the next she was lying on the ground as rocks and sticks dug into her arms, legs, and back.

"Shit, foster. Are you okay?" Hawk stood over her, blocking out the sun that seemed to want to blind her.

Harper nodded but the movement multiplied the pain of the bruises she had no doubt acquired. "Yeah, I'm fine. What happened?"

"You tell me," Hawk said, helping her up. He brushed a few bits of grass and dirt from her and frowned at the open cut on her arm. "What's going on with you today?"

"Nothing. I just got confused with the moves, that's all," Harper said, wincing as she moved her arm. The injuries were superficial at best though there was no doubt she'd be sore later.

But the truth was that her mind was in a permanent fog.

Those thoughts she'd put into the far recesses of her mind came barreling in the moment she dropped her guard. She let them invade her mind when she should've been paying attention. While it didn't matter as much during practice, it would during an actual fight. With Cobra Kai planning some sort of an attack, she needed to be ready for anything.

"Right." He observed her as if it would get him a more concrete answer but she didn't explain further. "But you'd tell me if something was wrong, right?"

"Yeah, definitely." Harper nodded but averted his gaze and dabbed a napkin on the few cuts that marked her skin.

Hawk considered her words but accepted them as the truth since he had no reason to believe otherwise. "You missed a spot. Here," he said, taking the napkin from her and cleaning a couple of the scrapes that she couldn't have reached on her own.

"Thanks," Harper said softly, trying to ignore the sting. After a few minutes, the cuts were cleaned and she was left with several reminders of her failure. She stretched to see how much pain she was in but winced at the movement. "Okay, I think I'm ready to get back to training. And I'll try not to mess up again."

"Actually," he started, throwing a quick look her way, "I think we should take a break for today."

"What? Why? Is it because I fell? Because I'm fine, Hawk. I'm not gonna quit because of a few bruises."

Hawk took in the frustrated frown on her face before saying, "You're not quitting. I am. I guess I just didn't realize how much the training at Coyote Creek kicked my butt. I'm more sore than I thought so is it okay if we do something else instead?"

She looked up at him with concern, her frown deepening. "Oh, yeah. Sure. You're okay, right?"

"I will be." Smiling, he put his arm around her and then led them from the clearing and into the main area of the park.

An hour later, they found themselves in the playground as kids ran around, laughing and screaming as kids usually did. Though practice had been cut short, Harper was happy that they had a chance to hangout. It was their first hangout as something more than friends. No official label had been assigned to them but that was fine with her. She never liked the pressure to fit into a specific mold, especially when their situation was far different from the typical relationship.

Harper held onto the metal chain and gently pushed herself back, letting the swing carry her with its motion. The light breeze felt nice against her skin despite the sun trying to melt everything into the ground.

It was simple times like this that she let herself enjoy because she knew they could be gone at a moment's notice. Life as a foster kid was more often than not a cruel game of give and take with life almost always winning. It was all she could do to not let herself get attached while appreciating the little moments.

Unfortunately, the number one rule she'd set for herself had been broken when she came to live with the Hudson's. And as a result, she'd gotten too comfortable which was a recipe for disaster.

Even with all the shit she'd been through in life, Harper continued to be cautiously optimistic. It was good for her to hold out hope that everything in life would work out but she knew she needed to be realistic at the same time. It was good to hope but, most of the time, life would unexpectedly pull the rug out from under her. It was something she unfortunately got used to so that when life turned upside down, she knew how to handle it.

"It's already melting," Hawk said, sitting down in the swing next to hers. He passed her a cup of ice cream that would surely be soup in no time at all.

"It's okay. Ice cream's ice cream." Harper took the cup, happily digging her spoon in.

"Wait!"

Harper froze with the spoon halfway to her mouth. A bit of the ice cream dripped from the spoon and landed on the ground.

"You're gonna miss the best part." Not waiting to explain further, he picked up a bag of chips before crumbling it. "Trust me," he said as he opened the bag and sprinkled some broken chips on top of their ice cream.

"Ew. What is wrong with you?" Scrunching up her nose, she watched in horror as her perfectly melting ice cream was now covered in crumbled-up potato chips.

"Now you can try it." Hawk smiled, clearly impressed with himself for thinking of this.

"Uhm, I think I'll pass but thanks." Disappointed, she put the spoon back in the cup.

"Just try it," he said.

Narrowing her eyes, she took a small spoonful of the ice cream and smiled at the sweetness.

"You only had the ice cream. You have to try it with the chips. It's good, I promise. Me and Demetri used to do this all the time."

Harper shook her head with a soft laugh. "There's no way I'm trying this."

"Will you just trust me?"

Harper tilted her head, her eyes narrowed in bemusement. "You literally wouldn't eat sweet potato fries-"

"Because it tastes like sweetened dirt!"

"But ice cream with potato chips doesn't?" Shaking her head, Harper stared down at the cup in horror as she contemplated every moment that led to this.

"I tried those fries. The least you can do is try this. If you hate it then I'll get you something else."

"Okay, fine." With a deep sigh, she took a spoonful of both the ice cream and potato chip topping. She chewed thoughtfully as the sweet caramel ice cream and the saltiness from the chips blended together before throwing a look his way. He watched her expectantly but Harper didn't give him any inkling of what she thought. Instead, she turned away from him and scooped up more of the ice cream.

"You like it, don't you?" He smiled knowingly even as she refused to look at him.

"Nope," Harper said through a mouthful. "It's really gross."

Narrowing his eyes, he grabbed the chain of her swing and pulled her closer. "It's okay, I'll just take it and get you something else." He laughed when she held the cup out of reach. "Why can't you just admit that you like it?"

Harper held onto her ice cream as if for dear life before facing him. "Because I know you and you'd never let me live it down if I admitted that your weird food combination was actually good."

"I mean, you're not wrong," he said with a grin. "I'll just take that as a win anyway."

"You're so annoying."

By the time they finished their ice cream, it had turned into a soupy yet delicious mess. The temperature increased a few degrees, forcing them to abandon their seats on the swings and move to a shadier, hopefully cooler, part of the park. As they walked the wide paths, they remained quiet but there was no need to fill the silence. Unlike some silences that grew awkward, this one was comfortable.

Harper found herself looking around, wondering if someone was watching them. And maybe it was reckless on their part to be out in the open like this but they took their chances. If everything went as planned, then their secret wouldn't be a secret for much longer.

"Still thinking about that ice cream that you refused to even try?"

"Oh, shut up," Harper said with a laugh, knowing this was just the beginning of the end. "Actually, I was thinking of these awesome sweet potato pancakes Olivia made the other day."

Sighing, Hawk shook his head in disgust. "You know what, foster? You're too weird for me. I don't think this is gonna work out."

"I'm weird?" Harper stopped mid-step, trying to process his words. Quickening her pace, she stepped before him in an attempt to cut him off. When he tried to go around her, she grabbed his arm and forced him to stop. "Uhm, you're not getting rid of me that easily."

He leveled her with a glare that made her believe that he hadn't been joking around. A moment later, a smile broke through the cold and indifferent look in his eyes. "Yeah, something tells me I'll be stuck with you no matter what." He laughed at the look on her face before taking her hand and continuing their walk under the shadiest areas possible.

"Hey, so, I've been thinking." Harper kept her attention on the path before them as if it was the most interesting sight at the park. She struggled with getting her words out for fear of sounding pathetic and dumb. When he squeezed her hand as a way to comfort her, she released her worries and continued. "I think I need to tell my friends about everything. Well, not everything. Not the whole karate training part because that'll complicate things even more but you know, us."

He looked her way in shock. "Wait, we're an 'us' now?"

"Hawk!" Rolling her eyes, she smacked him on the arm.

"I'm kidding," he said with a laugh.

"Can you be serious for once?"

"Where's the fun I'm that?" He asked. "But honestly? Do what you want. If you think you need to tell them then do it. It's your choice."

"But it's not just my choice," she said, sighing. For a moment, she felt like she was making a big deal out of nothing. Like her problem wasn't as dramatic as she was making it out to be. "If I tell my friends…"

"They'll still be your friends, foster. No matter what. They're not gonna go anywhere."

It wasn't the direction Harper had been going in but she smiled at his words, wanting to believe that. "Thanks but what about your friends? They kinda hate me. Well, besides Miguel but I think they'll give you a hard time about this."

"Yeah, maybe but it's a good thing I like you. I don't really care what they think. I can handle them, don't worry."

"Am I just being dumb? Like am I overthinking this too much?"

"No. I mean, I get why you're worried. If you didn't have such a shitty life in foster care then you wouldn't be this stressed out about possibly losing people." He looked over at her sheepishly as if he thought he said too much or misjudged the situation.

Harper stared at him for a moment, dumbfounded that he understood.

"That's not what you meant, is it?" He asked flatly.

"Actually, that's exactly what I was thinking. I'm just surprised you knew."

Relieved, he smiled over at her. "I guess I kinda pay attention to what you say."

"I guess so," Harper agreed, matching his smile.

"So, when do you think you're gonna tell them?"

Harper shrugged though knew she had about a five-day window to do that. "Soon I think. But maybe don't tell your friends yet. At least not until I tell mine. You know, in case I chicken out."

"Did you get a chance to talk to your friends?" Olivia asked, taking the dirty plates and stacking them atop one another.

Harper focused on putting the used cutlery together but lightly shook her head in answer. Seeing the look on Olivia's face, she sighed and faced her. "I know. I just…," Sighing, she glanced down at the dining room table. "I'll tell them, I promise."

Olivia nodded silently as she went about clearing the table. "It's okay to be scared, Harper. I know how much your friends mean to you. And I'm sure it won't be as scary as you think."

"I hope so. But I kinda gave myself a deadline so I still technically have four days to tell them," she said as a way of showing that she was serious about doing the right thing.

"You got this." Olivia smiled at her and picked up her stack of dishes. She gently placed a hand on Harper's arm and they walked towards the living room where another conversation was taking place.

"But you're gonna tell her, right?" Cole asked, standing beside the sink as Lucas washed the dishes. "Because you and mom promised that you would like days ago."

Lucas threw a look at his son, something between impatience and amusement on his face. "The dishes aren't gonna dry themselves."

Rolling his eyes, Cole sighed dramatically and just barely dried a dish before putting it down on the sudsy counter. "You need to tell Harper that she's-"

"Tell me what?" Harper interrupted as she entered the kitchen. She looked from one to the other, trying to figure out what the conversation was about.

"Oh, that you're- "

Lucas threw a dry towel in his face in the hopes of shutting him up. Clearing his throat, he smiled before taking the dishes from them. "Nothing, Harper. We were just, uhm, talking." He looked over at Olivia, an unspoken conversation held between them.

"We just want to talk to you," Olivia said, nodding once at Lucas.

"About what?"

"Let's go into the living room and talk." Placing a hand on her arm, Olivia steered her out of the kitchen.

"You can finish the dishes, right Cole?" Lucas asked and left the room before he could protest.

Harper's legs felt like lead by the time she stepped into the living room. She grudgingly took a seat across from them and waited for what felt like an eternity for someone to speak. It didn't help that the panic inside her spiked at the myriad of horrible discussion topics that flooded her mind.

Just when everything felt like it was working out, it was about to come crashing down.

"So," Olivia started and reached for Lucas's hand, "we've been thinking about this a lot. You've been living with us for almost four months now and we just wanted to talk about where we want to go from here."

The words reached her ears but Harper barely heard anything over the beating of her heart. She nodded numbly, knowing that this conversation was bound to come up. It was sooner than expected but sometimes sooner was better than later. At least now she wouldn't have to wonder about what her future would hold.

Lucas laughed nervously. "This isn't how we wanted to tell you. Olivia actually had a perfect plan for this but Cole kinda ruined it."

"Yeah, no. That's fine. I just, uhm… I get it. When's Shane coming?" She asked.

"Shane? What are you talking about?" Lucas threw a confused look her way, one that mirrored Olivia's.

Olivia scooted to the edge of her seat and reached for her hand but Harper pulled back. "Honey, Shane's not coming."

Was a new social worker assigned to her? Harper found it weird that no one had mentioned it but, then again, foster kids were rarely told these things. "Oh, okay. Well, whoever's coming to pick me up then."

"What exactly do you think is going on here?" Lucas asked after a moment, still trying to process her words.

Bemused, Harper looked at them. "I'm getting moved to a different foster home."

Olivia sighed, her eyes widening with surprise and sadness. "Harper…"

"It's okay. I always knew this wasn't permanent," Harper interrupted, forcing a smile. She nervously twisted the bracelet around her wrist, trying to find the right words.

"No, Harper. That's not what we're trying to say," Olivia said.

"What we are saying is that you're not going anywhere," Lucas said, shaking his head as if to rid himself of what she believed.

"I'm not? But you're - I mean, you were saying how…." She trailed off, unsure of where she was going with her sentence.

"You really think we would send you away?" Olivia asked, a world of hurt in her voice.

Harper shrugged. "I-I don't know. I mean, it's happened before. And I've messed up so much this summer so I thought that you had enough of me."

A quiet moment passed through the room at her words. At the harsh outlook that Harper had on her life.

"Nothing you do would make us not want you, Harper. You're not disposable or broken," Olivia said.

"And we know four months isn't that long but we want to make this permanent," Lucas added.

"What does that mean?" Harper asked nervously.

"We want to adopt you," Olivia said.

Those five words hit Harper with so much force that she stopped breathing. She replayed the last few seconds in her mind, wondering if she had misheard. Or if there was a 'just kidding' added to the end of that statement to show it was nothing but a cruel joke. But, from what she remembered, there was nothing. Just a solid 'we want to adopt you'.

"A-are you sure?" Harper asked once she found her voice. "I mean, you're not going to change your mind? Because I'm not perfect. I'm messy and selfish and self-destructive. I mean, look at all the stupid things I've done since I got here. And what about Cole? Is he okay with this?"

"We already talked to Cole about this," Lucas said.

"And he's okay with this?" Harper remembered how difficult her being here made his life at the beginning. And how negatively it impacted everyone.

"I'm okay with it. You already kinda act like an annoying older sister and I guess it would be weird if you just left" Cole said, shrugging as if he hadn't interrupted. "What? I wanted to make sure you guys finally told her."

Lucas sighed heavily but said nothing.

Harper smiled softly though didn't allow herself to get too excited too soon. She looked from Cole to her foster parents, silently waiting for everything to fall apart while hoping that it wouldn't.

"We're serious about this. You've been through so much, and I know that life hasn't been fair to you but we want you to have a safe home. A family. With us. So what do you say?" Olivia asked, watching her with anticipation.

It was surreal. All of it. Harper had been mentally packing up the few belongings she had while thinking of how she would say goodbye to her friends or if she'd even have time to. But it turned out that, for once, life had a different plan for her.

A happy one.

A slow smile stretched across her face, her vision blurring with happy tears that she didn't bother to wipe away. "Yeah, of course!"

And just like that, everything was okay in the world. Her world. All of the pain, worry and heartache was pushed to the side as she looked at what the rest of her life would be like.