A/N: Set at the end of the episode Love on the Rocks where D.J. and Steve decide to go in their separate directions. Full House does not belong to me; I'm just a hopeless romantic that didn't want D.J. and Steve to break up.
"Don't you feel exhilarated? Overwhelmed? Don't you feel anything?" Queried DJ as they made it to the top of the mountain.
"Yeah, I feel like a chili-dog" Said Steve jokingly as he moved to put his arm around his girlfriend's shoulders.
"Steve!" exclaimed DJ exasperatedly
"What? Deej, you know I'm joking." He tried to defend himself as she moved away from his touch. He could feel her pulling away and he was scared. He didn't want to lose her; he loved her. Joking was his tried and true defense mechanism, but it didn't seem like it was going to help him out in this situation.
DJ looked at him, "Well I'm not. Look at this place." She looked around again at the expansive view.
Steve looked out, it was beautiful up here, but it had nothing on the girl standing in front of him. "Yeah, it does look amazing, but not as beautiful as my view right now." He said looking straight at DJ. "Deej, what's going on? Why did you want us to come up here? You can tell me."
"I'm not sure. I've felt a shift in our relationship lately. It's like someone's let the air out of it." She looked at his eyes and could see that it hurt him to have her say it. What else could she do? It wasn't fair to either of them to stay in the relationship just to avoid the pain.
"Who says we can't put the air back in? I love you DJ, if you want space, I can give you space, but I don't want to lose you." He moved toward her and took it as a good sign when she didn't pull back. He set his hands gently on her hips and looked down into her eyes. They'd once had a play argument about who would put more "only-s" in front of how they were the only one for each other. He didn't realize that would change.
"It's not space that I want. I'm not even sure what I want. What we had was amazing; do you think we can get it back? I mean what we have right now feels more like a friendship." She moved her hands so that they rested on his chest. Not pushing away, but a clear sign that she didn't want him to move any closer either.
"A friendship? Isn't that part of any healthy relationship? You're my best friend and you're more than that." With that he reached one of his hands forward to cup her cheek and leaned down to kiss her before she could pull back. He pushed the kiss deeper and he could feel her melting into it as he moved his other hand around her waist to pull her closer.
At first the ferocity of the kiss shocked her, but soon she was more into it. She leaned into him and wound her arms behind his neck. The kiss continued far longer than any of their past kisses. When they finally pulled away, he kept his hand at her face and she leaned her head into it. "Wow." Was all she could think to say.
"Yeah, wow." Steve echoed. "Still think there's no air left?"
"No, there's definitely air.: She laughed, "I guess I just felt a little deflated. That was amazing though. We haven't kissed like that in, well, ever." She looked back up at his eyes. As much as he meant to her, and as much as that kiss just proved there was still a spark in their relationship, she still had the problem of feeling like she was losing her identity with him. She started to pull away from him.
"What is it? I thought we just proved that our relationship isn't over. I thought that put new life into it." She had turned around to face the view and he went up behind her and wrapped her in his arms.
She leaned back into him as she took as deep breath. What she was about to say could very well break his heart. "Steve, I realized something while you were in L.A. As much as I missed you, I don't really have a separate life anymore. I'm always with you. That's not a bad thing, except I feel like I'm losing who I've always been… I'm sorry." She turned around to look in his eyes expecting to see hurt, possibly even betrayal. All she saw was determination.
"D.J. Tanner, I love you. Who you are and who you've been since I've known you. I don't want you to lose yourself. If you need space away from me or if you need me to help you find yourself and keep yourself, name it. I'll be here to help you do what you need to do. I know you've helped me find who I am. Look at Jesse and Becky, they haven't lost each other, but your uncle is not the same guy as he was when we first started dating. They've both changed together."
"You're right. Don't get upset if I don't want to go on a date every day though, okay? It's just me trying to make sure I still know who I am." She leaned forward to kiss him again. When it ended that time she said, "come on, we better get back down."
"Wait, Deej, are we going to be okay?" Steve looked at her uncertainly.
She took his hand and laced her fingers through his, "yes, it's going to be okay I love you too. We're going to be okay."
They made their way back down the mountain together, completely absorbed in their love for one another again.
