This took forever. School is a... well, it can be an enormous freaking jerkface. So I apologise. Also apologies if this chapter isn't as good- time travel is tricky to write.

Well, now that all the begging-of-your-patient-pardons is out of the way, faithful viewers, thanks for sticking with me (if you're reading this, I will assume you have stuck with me for the past couple months, but if you're new, welcome ). I hope to continue this story until maybe two thirds of the way through season 3, if RIB don't completely screw up everyone's storylines.

PART 3

Harmony woke up half-dangling over the edge of Artie's couch the next morning. She had crashed as soon as Artie showed her to the basement. Rory was still snoozing opposite her, periodically opening his mouth and releasing a gargantuan snore. She looked at the clock on the wall behind her; 10:37 am, Thursday 13th October, 2011. How was it Thursday? It was Friday yesterday. The only time that ever happens is intercontinental travel. She'd stayed in the same country- relatively, she'd barely moved at all.

She groaned. "Just when you think jetlag can't get worse- it turns into time-machine-lag."

Harmony hauled herself off the couch, untangling the polar fleece blanket from around her legs and throwing it over her shoulders in the process, nearly causing the porcelain-skinned girl to tumble to the floor. One's balance is never the best within the first few minutes of waking up, she reminded herself. Harmony trudged her way up the wooden steps to the kitchen. She didn't expect to see Artie hunched over a plate of waffles and his laptop at the coffee table.

"Shouldn't you be at school?" She asked lazily, her voice low and husky with weariness.

Artie looked up at her, his eyes well awake and sparkling behind the thick spectacles. "We're in luck- someone planted a tub of crickets in Sue Sylvester's office. She demanded that Figgins cancel classes so they could call in an exterminator."

"That's almost too convenient."

"It is- Puck called me up last night to ask for my help in pulling off the prank. I turned it down, but he went ahead and did it anyway. It's a good thing he didn't get caught- this one might have been enough to expel him."

"Does this mean you're gonna be home all day?"

"Mhm, should be plenty of time to form your new identities and get you into the school."

"Ok, whatever you wan- WHAT?"

"I figured that it would be the easiest way to communicate with the rest of the Glee kids- I mean, your parents."

Harmony raised a tired eyebrow. "Fine. Hey, you got any more of those waffles left?"

"Sure, check in the oven. It's nice to know we still have waffles in the future."

"Are you kidding? You can't walk 10 feet in a store without running into a stand stacked with waffles. Chocolate, cookies and cream, bacon... mmm, waffles..." The girl's stomach growled, loud enough to be heard by Artie over the other side of the room. Harmony piled a plate with the crispy breakfast treats, smothered them in syrup and plonked herself at the kitchen bench, shovelling them into her mouth with fervour.

"You wanna leave some for me?"

Harmony whipped around, fork held high, ready to defend her breakfast. Fortunately, it was only Rory, who knew better than to steal food from the occasionally vicious Harmony, ever since the beef jerky incident of 2035. He had come out of it with 5 stitches, teeth marks and no beef jerky.

The porcelain-skinned girl pointed her fork towards the oven. Rory took some waffles and sat down beside Harmony at the bench, crossing his legs on top of the stool. Harmony rolled her eyes. Even at 15 years old, the boy still had no idea how to sit on furniture.

The two sat in silence. The only noise to come from within the room was Artie's keyboard clicking as he typed and the munching noises that Harmony and Rory made as they chewed on their waffles. The silence gave the three time to process.

Rory thought about the time machine- he wondered if Artie might be able to help him get the machine to a power source, or to the correct tools so he could fix it.

Artie meticulously constructed identities for the two future teenagers. He pondered on each point of their characters for a while, as if the whole thing was a puzzle, or a game of chess. One misplaced piece, one wrong move, and the entire plan could crash and burn into smouldering pieces.

Harmony, in the meantime, worried about Sugar. Sugar was never as street-smart as Harmony, nor as book-smart as Rory. Was she okay? What if something happened? What happens to you if you die in the past? Harmony didn't think that she would survive without Sugar. The girl had been her rock, her best friend since moving from New York. Without her, not only would her world collapse, but Rory would become completely unbearable.

~~~SPLHFBRHA~~~

The next Monday, Rory shuffled into the halls of a much younger McKinley High School, his hands shoved deep in his pockets and brow furrowed in worry. Artie wheeled up beside him, punching him lightly on the arm as he did so.

"Don't worry. You'll be fine. Everyone thinks you're an exchange student from Ireland, even Brittany. Just be sure to catch her after class, and introduce yourself properly."

"Are you sure me staying with her is really a good idea?"

"You don't need to worry about Brittany. Even if she figures it out... which, I assure you, she won't, she wouldn't say a word to anyone about it. Brittany's more perceptive and understanding than she appears."

"It's not Brittany I'm worried about, Artie- it's the other girl."

"Santana? Don't be too worried about her. She's just protective- if you stick to the story, she won't suspect a thing. But still, she's naturally a defensive person, so don't be too bothered if she gives you dirty looks for a while."

They made their way through the halls to the lockers. Artie pulled out a plastic sleeve filled with sheets of paper, paper clips and a card in the front.

"That contains your timetable, a rough outline of your grade's syllabus, a year-long school calendar and your expertly-forged student card." The wheelchair-bound boy prodded the bundle.

Rory pulled the card out from the bundle, flipping it over and examining it. It read;

FLANAGAN, RORY

SOPHOMORE

FORM C- Ms. GRAHAM

STUDENT NO. 32019

Beside the text was a black-and-white photo of Rory's face. Well, it sure looked like a photo, except Rory had no memory of Artie ever taking a picture of him.

"How did you do the photo?"

Artie shrugged. "It's amazing what you can do with a police identikit and Photoshop."

"You didn't hack into the Police network, did you?" Rory asked, as mild fear crept into his mind.

"No, of course not. My uncle's a police detective, whenever I went into his office, he used to let me play around with the program. Eventually he managed to snag me a copy so I could use it in my own time. Which is illegal, but I made a promise to him that I wouldn't use it for anything other than recreational use. I never thought I'd have to break that promise... but you owe me now, man. You seriously owe me." Artie punched him on the arm again. It hurt a little that time. Artie then wheeled away towards his locker, which was, unfortunately for him, all the way up the end of the North hall.

Rory pulled out the combo locker and opened his locker. He was met with the damp smell of mildew and a combination of stale sweat and men's deodorant. Wrinkling his nose, he pulled his Physics textbook out of his satchel and placed it in the locker before slamming it shut.

Had he known who was on the other side of that locker door, he probably wouldn't have slammed it so hard.

~~~SPLHFBRHA~~~

The noise startled Brittany, and Brittany startled Rory. Rory let out a slightly-too-high-pitched noise of shock. When he realised just who he had seen, he immediately felt the overwhelming need to apologise.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Won't let that happen again."

Brittany's forehead wrinkled in confusion. "What do you have to be sorry about? You just closed your locker."

Hmm. Well, it was hard to argue with that logic. He pushed the conversation aside with an attempt at an introduction.

"I'm Rory."

"I know. I talked to you last week."

This was true. How could he have forgotten? Rory turned a pale pink.

"Oh. Right."

"You're funny. And magical."

"Magical?"

"Well, yeah. You speak funny, you're really nice and you wear green a lot. You're a leprechaun. Also, you're a bit short." Brittany reasoned, without the slightest hint of sarcasm and with the most absolute confidence.

Rory didn't want to contradict her, it was all too adorable. He immediately took a liking to Brittany. Not in the way that he wanted to date her or anything, though that might have been partially due to the fact that he had been warned against it, for fear of Santana's wrath. It was more of a brotherly-sisterly affection. Rory had always been an only child, but he'd always wanted a younger sibling. He wanted someone to teach, someone to protect. Brittany's innocence reminded him of a child, confident yet vulnerable.

"Yeah. Sure, I'm a real-life leprechaun. Gold and rainbows and everything."

"Do you grant wishes?"

"Uh, sure. I suppose. But not right now, I've got class."

Brittany's smile dropped off a bit. "Oh. Well, I'll see you after school, then! Meet me in the parking lot, my mom's picking us up!" She hollered, while skipping down the hallway, her Cheerio skirt swishing as she went.

It was only at that point that Rory remembered what Artie said- he was going to stay with Brittany for a while, at least until he could figure out how to fix the time machine and get back to his reality with Sugar and Harmony. Which, considering current circumstances, could take a while.

Still, Rory couldn't help but feel an immense sense of relief flood over him. Brittany remembered him, even trusted him. Even for a moment, it eased his burning worries. Worries about Sugar, the time machine, Harmony, even. He had no idea how she was doing or even where she was- the enrolment office had screwed up on her application, so she was probably out scouting for Sugar, or scribbling furiously in one of Artie's notebooks at his place, trying to get her thoughts into tangible existence, if only on paper. She had a habit of spontaneously producing a notebook and a pen and letting ink and hand tear across the page-

His thoughts were interrupted by an olive hand flashing in front of his face. He pulled his eyes back into focus. There was a Latina Cheerio standing in front of him, her chocolate stone eyes lasering themselves into his.

"Hey. Rory, isn't it?"

"Ummm... Yeah..."

"I saw you chatting up Brittany the other day. Just so you know, she's... taken. So stay away from her."

This must be Santana, Rory thought. Artie wasn't lying when he said she was defensive, especially of Brittany. Rory thought it best to just be positive. He smiled back at Santana.

"You don't have to worry, Santana. While Brittany is lovely, I'm just her exchange student, not a love interest."

Santana said nothing. She merely lifted her eyebrows, gave her best bitch smirk and sauntered away.

Rory let out a sigh of relief. He readjusted his satchel over his shoulder and began walking towards his classroom, not considering anything but just getting through the day.

~~~SPLHFBRHA~~~

The leaves crunched and crackle under Harmony's feet as she walked through the expanse of North Lima Park. It was absurdly open, and equally empty. The grass rolled up and down on the dirt, sheltered by trees and sliced in two by concrete. It was a shame, really. If not for the trees and the path, it would have been very Sound of Music. Harmony smiled at the thought of her favourite musical. It brought with it so many memories. Learning Do-Re-Mi as a child with her Mom, being driven by her Mama to an audition for the role of Marta (and obtaining it easily), karaoke nights with vegan popcorn and hoarse voices. Every time they had one of those nights, her Mom told her that, once she turned sixteen, she would take her to the gazebo in the park and teach her the choreography for "Sixteen Going On Seventeen". It was the one thing Harmony clung to after her Mom left, the possibility that on the day of her sixteenth birthday, she would meet her at the gazebo. Harmony went to the park one day and waited until nightfall, but still her Mom didn't show. It had even started thundering, too- it would have been perfect. But her Mom wasn't there. The absence of one being turned what would have been a happy and memorable day into a miserable and disappointing one. Since then, Harmony had never been able to watch The Sound Of Music. It brought the memories on far too strongly, and she'd made a point of not breaking down, for the sake of her Mama. Harmony came across a bench and perched on the armrest. She had almost forgotten that this was Lima in 2011, not 2036. She was alone in a time where she didn't belong, didn't exist. So she did whatever her Mama had done with her whenever she felt alone- she clasped her hands together, closed her eyes and prayed.

"Hey God. Look, I know it's been a while, but... I need you. More than I know. It's taken me long enough to realize. Sorry about that.

"I don't think I'm strong enough for this. But I need to be strong. For Rory, for Sugar, for Mama... And Mom... Wherever she may be. Lord, I ask that you grant me that strength, even though I don't deserve it. Give me the courage to make things right. Give me the patience to deal with the situation. Lord... I don't even know what I'm doing, let alone if anyone is listening-"

"Listening to what?"

Harmony lifted her head to find the voice. She couldn't believe the face her eyes landed on.