*HARPER'S Point of View*

"Harper?" His voice cracked. Then he raced down the length of the red carpet. He stopped just inches from me, his chest heaving. "You're here," he said, his cheeks and mine completely saturated with tears.

"I am," I said, and he swooped down, grabbed me by the waist and pressed his mouth hungrily against mine. The feel of being in his arms again was heaven.

"I'm so sorry," I said, gasping for breath. "I hope you didn't think I meant to leave. I...uh, it's so complicated, but I got back here as fast as I could."

His arms felt like vines growing around me as his grip tightened. He buried his face in my hair and said, "I know. I knew it all along. I knew you wouldn't leave."

"Never," I breathed.

His warmth was warmer than I remembered, his touch more soothing, his fragrance more appealing. We couldn't get enough of each other, and for a time, we were oblivious to the outside world.

We gradually became aware of the hushed silence around us, people watching, completely engrossed in what was going on between us, waiting to see what would happen next. And the cameras were rolling.

"What now?" I asked in a hushed voice.

"What happens now is that I get to do what I've wanted to do for a long time," Harry replied, eyes glistening, voice quivering. "I don't even have a ring because I spent this whole week trying to figure out what happened to you. I don't have your Dad's blessing. But what I have in front of me-"

"Wait!" Anne said and everyone stopped to look at her as she made her way to us. "I have something, Harry," she said, sliding the ring off her right hand. "This was Nana's wedding ring. It's meant for Gemma, but we agreed that you can borrow it until you find something of your own that you want to give her." She placed it in Harry's palm and he hugged her tightly.

"Thanks, Mum," I heard him whisper to her. "I love you."

"Love you, too," she said happily. She hugged me and said, "I love you, too, Harper." Then she rushed back to her spot.

Harry looked at me with an adorable grin and then scanned the crowd to find my father. He walked over to where my dad was standing, hand held out. Instead of shaking his hand, my father pulled him into a massive hug, slapping his back.

The grin hadn't faded from Harry's face. "Mr. Blackwood, I would be honored if you would allow me to marry your daughter."

Dad looked at him incredulously. "I just flew 5,000 miles to get her back to you. What do you think I'm going to say?!" Harry laughed while my dad grabbed him into another hug, bellowing, "Of course you can marry her!"

Harry rushed back to me and said, "Well, there's only one thing left to do." I watched in awe as he slowly lowered himself to one knee, still smiling like crazy. 

"I can't believe I found you. I've literally traveled around the world and I can easily say that you're one in a million. You're the one I want..." He stopped, taking a deep breath to push back the rising emotion. He blew it out slowly as his eyes turned glassy. "You're the one I want to spend my life with. Harper, will you marry me?"

"Yes!" I said. Every pent up emotion from the last week flowed out with my answer. "Yes!" I repeated more proudly.

He slipped his Nana's ring onto my finger. It was a tiny bit snug, but I barely noticed. All I knew was that I felt like a princess when he scooped me up, one arm behind my back, and one under my knees. Then he kissed me in a way that surely made our parents blush.

Once again, we were lost in each other, but Tyler's irritated voice broke us out of our embrace. "Well, that was cute. But let's do that one again, shall we?"

Harry set me down gently and turned to Tyler, "Don't tell me you didn't get all of that. That was classic! Perfect! Couldn't have done it better if we had practiced for a week."

"Yes," Claudia said. "But it makes no sense. It doesn't fit with the rest of the week since Harper clearly...hasn't been around." She turned, looking towards me but not maintaining direct eye contact for very long. "Where exactly have you been, Harper? You technically left the show, even though you didn't sign the appropriate documents, but I'm not sure if you should be allowed to complete the competition."

"Claudia," Ben intervened, shaking his head. "I think we should leave it exactly as it is. Because Harry obviously loves her. Harper really was gone for a week - we don't know why, but look, now she's here again."

I had to work hard not to giggle at Ben's sarcasm.

He continued, "It's almost like someone forced her to leave, even though they knew she was the one Harry wanted. But she made it back, with the help of two people who weren't even involved in the show, while the people actually responsible for the show played stupid all week long. Pretty hard to believe, isn't it? But hey, it makes for a good bit of drama."

Claudia remained stoic while she swallowed hard. "I don't appreciate your tone. But very well. Nothing a little editing can't fix anyway."

She started to walk away, but Ben stopped her. "That doesn't surprise me at all, actually." She turned and gave him a scornful look. "You've been manipulating the show for quite some time, it seems."

"It's not manipulation, Mr. Winston. It's called creating good television."

"Oh, is that what it's called?" I'd never seen this side of Ben, but I was enjoying it. "In the United States, it's called kidnapping and assault when you drug someone and send them on a plane halfway across the world."

"Drugged?" Harry shouted so loudly, it startled me. He looked at me with absolute terror in his eyes. "They drugged you?"

"Yeah," I answered. "I'm okay now, though," I said, trying to calm him. "Really."

"Okay, now this is just getting ridiculous," Claudia snapped. "These allegations are nonsense. And turn off those damn cameras!" She demanded.

My father had assumed an intimidating stance at the entrance. He spoke up, causing Claudia to whip around to listen to him. "Perhaps these will jog your memory," he said firmly. He waved a handful of papers in front of him. "These are toxicology reports from Mercy General in Sacramento, where Harper was a patient for three days following her mysterious return."

Harry asked sadly, "You were in the hospital? And I didn't even know." He pulled me against his chest and kissed my temple.

Dad continued, "Harper had four times the recommended dose of Rohypnol in her system." Harry pulled me even tighter as my dad spoke. "And as you probably know, being an American and all, Rohypnol is illegal in the US, but it's available by prescription in the UK. That seems a little suspicious, doesn't it?"

"Mr. Blackwood," Claudia nearly growled, which was somewhat fitting since she was beginning to act like a caged animal. "I have no idea what you're talking about. How dare you accuse me-"

"Wait!" He said, shutting her up instantly. "You didn't let me finish. The Sacramento police department got involved immediately when a mysterious plane showed up from London with only the pilot and my unconscious daughter on board. Oh, and by the way, the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security got involved pretty quickly as well. You must know how seriously the US takes security nowadays."

"What's your point?" She seethed.

"My point is that immediately after the US authorities discovered the plane had arrived from London, they notified the Ministry of Defence and The Metropolitan Police Service in London. In addition to their investigation, they also notified the Liverpool police who are, as we speak, conducting a warranted search of all your belongings at the hotel."

She closed her eyes and we could all see the acceptance of defeat as it fell over her face. But she wasn't going down without a fight. She tried to push her way past my dad, but he used "reasonable force" to prevent her from leaving.

"Let's just fill you in on a few more details before the police arrive to let us know what they found, shall we?" My dad stated calmly, although I knew that his instinct would be strangle her after what she did to me. "When you put my daughter on an unknown private plane, she was accompanied by a Mr. Alexander Danvers, who managed to disappear before anyone found Harper when the plane landed in Sacramento. However, we were successful in finding out who he was, where he had come from, and to whom he was related."

The following information was news to me.

"Alexander Danvers, a resident of London, is the first cousin of Lucy Danvers, from Melbourne, Australia. I'm sure you remember Lucy," he said. "She was the last contestant that Harry eliminated before this week."

Oh shit. Lucy had started to act weird in Hawaii, but I had no idea she would go to such lengths to sabotage us.

"So, what you're saying is that Lucy and her cousin Alexander drugged Harper and put her on a plane to Sacramento. How does that involve me?" She looked around and again, demanded that the cameras be shut down, but no one listened to her; they just kept rolling.

Dad looked at me to fill in the missing piece.

"Claudia, you were the one who woke me up on Monday morning and told me to get ready for a date with Harry. You were the one who sent me to the airport to get on the plane. Oh, and let's not forget the cup of coffee you so kindly gave me. Strange that it made me feel much more sleepy than coffee should."

Harry was livid. "All this time!?" He raced over to her, towering over her as he shouted, "This whole fucking week, I've been miserable and you knew exactly where she was this whole time!"

"I made a mistake," she said. "It's been a grueling six weeks and I was exhausted. I thought her date was that day." Such a pathetic attempt to cover her ass.

"What about the note, Claudia? You pretended to know nothing about the note!" He didn't even wait for an answer. "And yet, you tried to force me to forget about Harper and keep my date with Victoria that same day. I'd suggest you get your story straight before the police arrive." I'd never seen Harry so angry before and it scared me a little. "I find it hard to believe that you didn't even remember sending Harper off the airport earlier in the morning when you were insisting I needed to follow through with the show's schedule!"

I  found it hard to believe that Claudia had been so careless about her plan, now that it was all unfolding before us. She was dumber than I gave her credit for.

Claudia's lips were pursed while she listened to Harry's rant. She knew she had it coming.

A commotion outside the doors of the Palm House distracted everyone. My father stepped away from the doors and Claudia saw it as her chance to escape. However, the excitement was caused by officers from the local police service, who had just arrived, and they stopped Claudia in her tracks.

An officer stepped inside while we watched in astonishment. "Are you Claudia Miles?"

"Yes, sir," she answered shakily. "Is there a problem?"

"Ma'am, I'm afraid I have to place you under arrest." He took her hand slowly and she didn't put up a fight. "You do not have to say anything. But, it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence."

Clearly, she decided that her best bet would be to say nothing at all as the officer placed the handcuffs on her wrists. While that was happening, another officer entered, asking for Tyler.

"Tyler Vance," he began as Tyler stepped forward. "You are under arrest. You do not have to say anything. But, it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence."

As the two were led away, Harry returned to me and once again, his eyes were filling with tears. "Oh my god, Harper. You could have died. I could have lost you." He wrapped his arms firmly around me and held them as if they were locked in place. "I'm never letting you go again."

I leaned into his shoulder, burying my face in his neck. "I love you, Harry. Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere without you."

"I love you, too," he whispered.

The police told us that they found a bottle of Rohypnol stashed in Claudia's luggage, prescribed to Alexander Danvers. The name had mostly been scratched off, but they were able to track down the prescription by the number on the bottle. More proof of Claudia's stupidity. Alexander and Lucy had both been tracked down and arrested as well.

The officers asked everyone to stay on site until they had taken our names and contact information, as we would all be questioned throughout the next day or two. They started with the other producers from the WMEB staff, for obvious reasons. It would be truly remarkable if no one else knew of Claudia's and Tyler's cover up. 

The police excused Harry and me for the night, joking that it wouldn't be hard to track down Harry Styles. "Wait!" Ben shouted before we left. "We're not finished yet."

Harry and I turned and walked back up the red carpet together, to the middle of the room. We watched in awe as everyone in the room - even the officers who guarded the door – lit candles around us. The lights dimmed and we were sailing in a sea of light. Ben held out a candle to each of us, lit them, and stepped back.

"You have to do the final candle ceremony," he told us with a huge grin spreading on his face. "Whenever you're ready, Harry."

Harry bit his lip coyly and kept me waiting for a minute or two. Finally, he said, "Harper, will you stay?"

I nodded as I said, "Forever."

Ben directed us to put our candles into a small candle holder, but the spaces seemed odd, kind of skewed as if they had been bent slightly. We understood the purpose as soon as we put the candles into their slots – the flames from our two candles united and became one.

_____

So, there you have it. Was it worth waiting for? :D

BTW, I did not misspell the word "defense" - I was using the British spelling, "defense" for the purpose of this chapter. lol - just want you to know I'm a good speller! ;)

Any final questions? I might be talked into doing one more chapter before the epilogue <3