After attending early morning Mass with Irene and Mike, Jeannie return home to begin preparing the traditional early afternoon Christmas dinner. She dressed a Virginia ham with apricot glaze and cloves, then began work on a creamy scalloped potato dish her mother used to make. She pulled together a couple of salads as well as a green bean casserole. Haricot verts, she thought to herself as she remembered her lunch with Steve and the fact that he, Dan and Laura would arrive in a few hours.

Baking was Irene's job this year as she created a variety of delicious pies. "So what time do our guests arrive?" she asked Jeannie as she rolled out the dough for another pie crust.

"Two o'clock sharp," Jeannie answered from her spot at the kitchen table where she was snapping a large bowl of green beans. "Dan and Laura are usually quite punctual. I'll call Steve in a little while to remind him of the time."

"Your father already did," Irene advised. "He called him yesterday and made sure he was going to be here today."

"Oh," Jeannie responded. Perhaps that played to her advantage. At least she wouldn't risk saying something silly to Steve when she called. "Works for me," she said with a blasé tone.

As was the case, Dan and Laura arrived at two pm sharp bearing a casserole and a cake. Steve arrived about ten minutes late, but that was on time for him. He greeted Mike with two bottles of Napa Valley wine – one red and one white, and then sought out Irene with a large white poinsettia and Jeannie with a bouquet of flowers.

"That white poinsettia is about the loveliest thing I've ever seen. It's gorgeous!" Irene responded as she took the large green-tinted flowering plant from Steve's hands.

Tucked under his arm was the colorful bouquet, which he was now free to give to Jeannie. She cooed when she saw the mix of roses. The bouquet was mixed with enough greenery making it a lovely holiday arrangement.

After dinner and dessert, the group retired to Mike's living room for coffee. Conversation to that point had been focused on the police department and the cases that Mike and Dan worked – past and present - including a case that Steve had provided detailed criminology statistics to help profile the suspects. They also discussed Mike's pending retirement and what he planned to do after.

Mike grinned ear to ear. "I'm going to do some travelling," he said as he looked at Irene. "Hopefully, I'll have a companion on occasion."

Irene beamed back, "Sure you will, honey. I'm not going to be working much longer at the police department myself."

"You retiring, too, Irene?" Steve asked with a broad smile. He had always liked Mike's on again, off again girlfriend and hoped that his former partner and mentor would finally settle down. It had been more than a dozen years since his wife passed away.

"I can't work there forever, Steve. So yes, I'll be retiring this year as well," she smiled, but then realized that she now had made her intentions public. "Oh, I guess it's official now!"

"Will, congratulations then!" Steve responded. All lifted their coffee mugs in Irene's direction as a toast. "What about you, Daniel? Any big announcements from your world?" It wasn't a completely innocent question. Steve knew that Dan had been dating Laura for quite some time and was thinking of marrying her.

"Well, now that you mention it, Laura and I have been looking for a place to live. My place was great for one, but now that we're together, we need more room," Dan answered.

Steve peeked over to Mike for his reaction, but the older man chose to remain mum. The fact was that he knew Dan was going to propose on New Year's Eve and he dared not let the cat out of the bag.

"So things are going well for you, Dan. I'm so happy to hear that." Irene responded.

"What about you Jeannie? You've got so much going on," Dan asked trying to redirect the questioning from himself and Laura. He had heard Mike speak endlessly about how well his daughter was doing in Seattle. "You'll be getting your doctorate soon and then the world will be yours."

"Actually, if all works out, I'll be getting my doctorate this spring. But after that, I may well be back in San Francisco."

Mike's eyes lit up at the prospect. "You never told me that, Sweetheart? That's exciting. What changed?"

"There are opportunities here. As a matter of fact, I'm up for a planning job downtown and will be interviewing while I'm down here." All were happy at Jeannie's news as they missed the young woman very much. She cast a quick gaze to Steve, who was smiling as well.

"So it's over with you and Greg, huh?" Irene asked sympathetically.

"Yes, I'm afraid so. He's a great guy, but we just didn't have any chemistry," Jeannie responded.

"What about the other guy?" Steve asked before he realized what he had done. Jeannie gave him a dirty look.

"What other guy?" Mike asked.

"She…oh, nevermind. You know, I'm confusing the situation with something else." Steve turned a shade of red which made everyone realize that Steve was not confusing the situation within anything. He looked again at Jeannie who squinted his way, leaving Steve feel very threatened.

"What about you, Steve?" Dan asked, trying to get his friend off the hook. "Any big news from Berkeley?"

"Well, as a matter of fact, yes. You know, Berkeley is only part of the University of California system. There are nine other colleges across the state and not every location has a criminology department."

"So what does that mean?"

"It means that I've been asked to head up one of the new criminology departments they are implementing at one of the other locations."

Jeannie was shocked at the news and remained speechless. Dan asked a question that she was thinking. "Where? Are you moving?"

"Well, yes, at least for a while. I'm being asked to head up the new department in Santa Barbara."

Santa Barbara? Jeannie thought to herself. Did I just hear that? He's moving to Santa Barbara. He had no idea about my feelings because he clearly had no real feelings for me. I'm like a kid sister to him – nothing more.

Jeannie could hear words buzzing around her. Steve was talking about what it was going to take to start up a new criminology department. Dan wanted to know if they would partner with local law enforcement from the start in order to connect with the community. Mike said he was happy to hear of the promotion – and that he must have been the youngest department head of all time. Or something like that. Jeannie found it impossible to comprehend the conversation. Her only real thought was about Steve and his move hours south of San Francisco.

Irene noticed the distressed look that Jeannie was trying to conceal. If she could, she would walk over to Professor Keller and box his ears in no time flat. Laura hung on to Dan's every word. He's lucky, Jeannie thought. She's lucky. Laura is clearly in love with her man and he is clearly in love with her. Unlike…. Jeannie stopped thinking for a moment and looked at the man sitting next to her. He was a few years older than she, an occasional klutz and an overall train wreck with women. Whatever did I see in him? She tried hard to downplay his meaning to her life in order to save face. Her greatest fear was that she'd break apart in front of everyone. That would change everything and not for the better.

Steve looked over mid-sentence to Jeannie and smiled. The look she returned was hollow and fierce. He quickly turned his attention back to Mike and Dan who continued to chat and had no knowledge of the secondary exchanges between Steve, Jeannie and Irene.

Wondering how she could excuse herself to regroup, she looked no further than her own coffee cup. "I'm going to make a new pot of coffee," Jeannie announced rather severely. The tone caught everyone off-guard. By now, Steve realized he was in trouble. He looked to the others in the room to see if they knew what was going on. His inquiring eyes stopped with Irene. Her expression was one of sheer anger.

What? he mouthed to the older woman. She responded with squinted eyes that could have torn a hole straight through him. What? he mouthed again. This time she pursed her lips and quickly tilted her head to the kitchen where Jeannie worked.

Okay, Irene is perceptive; it's why she's such a good cop. I know I spilled the beans with Jeannie's secret. I should apologize, Steve thought to himself. He sat there for a moment convincing himself that the right thing to do was to go into the kitchen and make amends.

"I'm going to help Jeannie with that coffee," Steve stated almost mechanically. He got up and walked into the kitchen as Irene's glare followed him.

Jeannie busied herself with putting up leftovers and cleaning the kitchen as the coffee brewed. Steve tentatively opened the swinging door and quietly slipped in. She knew he was there, but chose to ignore him. An uncomfortable moment passed as he finally spoke, "Thought I'd come in here to help you," he said. "The four of them began 'couples' talk and I felt like I was a fifth wheel."

"Yes, well, you've come to the right place if you don't want to have 'couples' talk," Jeannie replied sarcastically as she busied herself at the kitchen sink with her back to Steve.

Steve took a deep breath. What did I do now? he thought as he looked around trying to find something to break the ice again.

"I can help you put the food away," as he walked over to the counter and picked up a dish of leftovers. "Hey, those green beans were really good. I liked that you added pimentos to them. It made them look very festive – green and red. Haricot verts et rouge perhaps?" His attempt at humor was not at all welcome and the reference to their lunch was again the wrong thing to say.

"Steve, just go," Jeannie ordered.

"Jeannie, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that about the other guy. I didn't understand that the others didn't know there was someone else," he apologized still holding the green beans.

Jeannie tried to grab the bowl away from Steve and place it on the counter. The move took Steve by surprise as he swung around to place the bowl in the refrigerator. The result was a short lived tug of war with green beans and pimentos flying everywhere scattering the contents all over the white tile floor. "Aw geez, Jeannie, I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were going to take the bowl..." Steve apologized again as he saw the mess on the floor.

Jeannie turned around quickly to face the kitchen sink as the frustration and heartbreak was too much to overcome. As tears began to fall, the last thing she wanted was for him to see her this way. Steve began to speak, "Look, Babe, I'm sorry I mentioned the 'other guy'. I've clearly upset you and I can't be sorrier." He turned away from the mess on the floor and placed his hand on her shoulder. He felt her trembling and knew she was in tears. "Jeannie, please…forgive me," he whispered as he spun her around and wrapped his arms around her.

Despite her better judgment, she returned the embrace. They stood quietly together as she felt his warmth and support surround her. As the moments passed, it gave her strength: now was the time. "It's you," she whispered.

"What?" he asked, not certain what he had just heard.

"I don't want to say again, Steve. It's you. You're the other guy," she whispered again with her head still on his shoulder.

Several moments passed without Steve or Jeannie saying a word. Jeannie had a strange sense of relief, but was also fearful of what could come next. "Jeannie, I don't know what to say. I didn't know," Steve began.

"We've known each other for so long, but I've always had these feelings. I just couldn't start the next phase of my life without knowing where I stood with you. I always hoped that you felt something for me."

"Felt something for you? How could I not after all these years?" he said as he gave her a kiss on the top of the head. He chuckled, "You were jailbait when we first met, though – completely off limits."

"And 'no cops'. That was dad's imposed dating rule after I turned eighteen. But I'm not eighteen anymore. I'm nearly twenty eight," Jeannie said.

"But of all the guys in the world, you fall for me? Jeannie, I'm just a beaten academic who can be a disaster with women. You can do better."

"Stop that, Steve. This is hard enough without you trying to unsell yourself to me," Jeannie protested. It quickly occured to her that he was trying to wriggle out of the moment. She half-anticipated him saying, 'it's not you, it's me'. She would preempt that. "Steve, it's okay. Just let me go on my way. We don't have to talk further. I've tortured myself for years over this and at least, now I know," she reasoned as she tried to pull away.

"No…" he continued to cling to the young woman. "I mean it, Jeannie. You should have someone your age without the battle scars."

"My age? You make yourself out to be an old man, but your not," she questioned.

"Jeannie, I am older. I'm thirty-five. And I'm an old thirty-five after what I've been through. It just wouldn't be fair to you."

Is he putting me off to protect me or is he really this insecure? Insecure - Steve Keller. No, those words were never said in the same sentence before, she thought to herself. After concluding that this was a ploy to protect her and let her down gently, she struggled to hide her disaapointment. Feeling his grip, Jeannie said nothing but pulled back to look him square in the face so she could find the truth in his eyes.

He studied her blue eyes and saw nothing but hurt, fear and the love that she held deeply. At that moment, he wanted nothing more than to make her world complete. He pulled her even closer and kissed her lips gently. The warmth from that kiss was something that she would never forget. "Are you sure?" he whispered.

She was shocked by his question. After all, she was the one who had a schoolgirl crush on him for years. While it turned to love as she matured, she tried her hardest to hide her true feelings. "I'm sure," she repeated.

"Then I'm the luckiest man in the world," he said as he kissed her again. Their second kiss was longer and more passionate.

Jeannie enjoyed the lingering kiss. Thoughts swirled around her head, but then she stopped abruptly. "What about Santa Barbara? If you're moving on anyway, what does that mean for us?"

Steve thought for a moment. He would explore his options, but if his future could include Miss Jeannie Stone, he'd take whichever path led to her. "You've got to finish your doctorate in Seattle. I'll come up for visits when you aren't studying or working and we'll figure it all out. Don't worry," he added as he stroked her hair and began kissing her again.

Irene and Mike's curiosity got the best of them when things became too quiet. Excusing themselves from Dan and Laura, they made their way to the kitchen, both pressing open the swinging door to see what was happening. Before them stood the couple locked in a solid embrace, kissing and oblivious to all.

Mike studied the pair for a moment and then noticed the green beans scattered on the floor. "I don't know what happened with the beans, but all I can say is it's about time."

Irene nudged her agreement by poking Mike in the side. She knew this was the pairing for which Mike had secretly hoped. "Merry Christmas, Mike."

Mike beamed, "It is, indeed, Irene! Merry Christmas!"

The end