Author's note: thanks as always! the reviews, favorites, and follows mean so much! i'm so glad you all like the story so much. it makes me smile! enjoy this next chapter! :)

Nothing Can Touch Us

1996

It had been a few weeks since Steve had seen Alexia. Even though they weren't that far away from each other, they were both really busy with school. He finally had a free weekend, so he decided to drive up to surprise her at her apartment. It was Friday and, when his last late class let out at five, he immediately got in the car and drove up to her apartment. When he got there, he ran into Jill outside the building; she was carrying several grocery bags.

"Need some help?" he offered, taking some of the bags from her. He noticed the bags he had taken were filled with ice cream, tissues, and movie rentals; Jill's bags had two bottles of wine.

"I'd just turn around and leave while you still can," she warned as they walked up the stairs towards the third floor of the building.

"Why?" Steve asked, confused. What was going on here?

"You'll see," she shrugged, opening the door to the apartment. They walked in to the apartment, setting the bags on the counter. Steve saw Alexia sitting on the couch with Emily who was curled up in a ball with her head in Alexia's lap. There were tissues everywhere, on the floor, the coffee table, and the couch.

"Look who's here," Jill said as she started to unpack the grocery bags; Emily's head perked up.

"Jason?" she asked, looking into the kitchen; they saw that it was Steve. "Oh, it's just you." She tossed an empty box of tissues in his general direction, but it didn't come anywhere close. Alexia wanted to get up to hug Steve, but Emily's head was still in her lap.

"Sorry," she mouthed at him, then nodded her head over at the empty bottle of wine on the coffee table to show that Emily had been drinking; out of that bottle, Alexia and Jill had each only gotten a glass.

"They broke up," Jill mumbled under her breath, putting the ice cream in the freezer.

"Oh," Steve nodded, not sure what to do. He had only had one friend go through a break up, his roommate Nate. Even then they had just gone out, had a beer, then called it a night. He had no idea what to say to Emily though.

"Um...I can come back tomorrow?" he offered, figuring he had disrupted some kind of girls' night.

"Let me ask you something Steve," Emily said, getting up from the couch and going to sit at one of the bar stools at the counter. "Why are guys stupid?" Alexia had to bite her lip to keep from laughing; Jill also snorted as she gathered the wine glasses.

"Um," he said nervously. "I don't...I mean I don't really know Em."

Steve had gotten to know Alexia's roommates pretty well since last year and he liked them both. He had also gotten to be good friends with their boyfriends since they usually overlapped weekends when they would visit. Ethan, Jill's boyfriend, had gone to University of Maryland but graduated and was now working in Virginia; he had always thought Jason, who went to the University of Baltimore, was a pretty cool guy. He wondered what went wrong.

"What happened?" Steve asked. He glanced over to the couch where Alexia was waving her hands wildly and shaking her head no.

"Oh I'll tell you what happened," Emily told him, slurring a little.

"Oh boy," Jill muttered, pouring a fourth glass and handing it to Steve. "You'll need this."

"So what kind of guy," Emily said, ignoring everyone else. "Dates a girl for almost a year, then dumps her on the phone, then when she goes to see him has some slut named Bridget in his room?"

"Why would you go see him?" Steve asked. Apparently that was the wrong thing to ask as he saw Alexia shaking her head again.

"Because I love him!"

"But he sounds like a jerk," Steve said, confused; it seemed so simple to him.

"Thank you!" Emily said, agreeing with Steve. "He is." She started tearing up. "Why am I so sad?" she said, laying her head on the counter and starting to cry.

"Oh Em, it's ok," Alexia said, coming over to hug her. "Really, it'll be fine."

"Lex is right," Steve agreed, feeling like all he had done before was make things worse. "I bet Bridget's not even that pretty." Jill pushed his arm, shaking her head at him now. What did he say that was wrong this time?

"She's a fashion major!" Emily told him, like it was something he should have already known. "And she gets modeling jobs all the time."

"Ok Em," he said, finally leveling with her. "Clearly, I don't know what I'm saying. All I can do for you is kick Jason's ass." She seemed to consider it. "Anyway, I'll just see you girls tomorrow ok?"

"You can't go," Emily said, ready to cry again. "Because Lex really misses you and now I ruined your whole weekend like a bad roommate." She started sobbing. "I'm such a bad roommate!"

"Well, what if we started the movie now?" Jill interjected. "Then, it'll be over by 9 and Lex and Steve can go do whatever they want." She looked at Steve. "Does that sound ok?" Her tone implied that he had to say yes unless he wanted things with Emily to get worse; he looked at Lex who shrugged.

"Oh yeah," Steve nodded, grabbing the plastic bag that contained the movie rental. "Definitely. I love..." He trailed off when he saw the title. "Pretty Woman." Alexia had to bite her lip again to keep from laughing.

They didn't make it through the movie before Emily fell asleep. They paused the movie so that they could get her to her bedroom. Jill grabbed her books and left for the library for some late night studying since she had an exam on Monday. Alexia went to take the movie out.

"We can watch the rest," Steve offered. "If you want." She looked at him curiously, then started laughing. "What?"

"You like this movie," she said, laughing more.

"Lex-"

"You love Pretty Woman," she continued to laugh, pressing play before settling back on the couch with him. "It's ok, I'll lock that one up with your fear of clowns." He laughed a little as he put his arm around her, curling up on the couch to watch the rest of the movie.

"Thank you," she said, looking up at him.

"For what?"

"Trying with Em," she said, laughing a little. "And for being a good boyfriend." He smiled, kissing her.

"Anything for you babe," he assured her, squeezing her shoulders. "Anything for you."

Fall 1997

It was senior year, with both Alexia and Steve being as busy as ever. Alexia was studying for her MCATs to get into medical school, which kept her pretty busy. Steve was on his way to the apartment again to surprise Alexia, this time for her birthday. When he got there, the apartment was the quietest he had ever seen it. Emily was sitting on the couch, but the tv wasn't on; she had papers spread all over the coffee table. Jill had done something similar to the kitchen counter where she was sitting, her books all over the place.

"Looks like finals week in here," Steve said lightly as he let himself into the apartment. "Too bad it's only September."

"LSATs," Jill said, pointing at herself. "GMATs," she pointed over her shoulder at Emily; then she pointed at Alexia's bedroom door. "MCATs."

"Good luck," he said as he went over to Alexia's room.

"Shhh," Emily said, waving him off. He shook his head, letting himself into Alexia's room. She was sitting on her bed, with her back to the door and her headphones on. He smiled as he tip toed over to the bed, grabbing her around her waist as he sat down on the bed with her. She jumped, pulling her headphones off.

"Steve!" she laughed, scolding him. "You scared the crap out of me."

"Happy birthday," he grinned, kissing her; she seemed confused.

"What day is it?" she asked, looking over at her alarm clock which displayed the date and time. "Wow," she laughed at herself. "Thanks babe."

"When was the last time you left this room?" he asked curiously; he knew how intense she got when she started studying.

"If I only knew," she shrugged.

"Well, as cute as you are studying," he smiled at her; she made a face. "I think you need to take a break."

"Baby," she whined. "I can't. The test is in a week and-"

"One night," he stopped her. "Just for one night, with your boyfriend, for your birthday."

Alexia eventually gave in, enjoying a night off with Steve. He left the next morning and she immediately started studying again. He admired her for all her hard work, but he just wished she didn't get so intense and worry so much.

The next three weeks she seemed especially distant when he would call her on the phone. He understood the first week because she was still studying, but the two weeks after that she seemed like she was avoiding him. He knew that she was worried about getting her scores back, but it seemed like something else was really bothering her. He wanted to drive up to see her, but he had a few very busy weekends ahead of him at school and could not.

It was late and he was still partially awake, worrying about what was going on with her. He thought he heard someone at the door of his apartment, but brushed it off. After all, it was close to three in the morning. He became fully awake though when his bedroom door opened; he was temporarily blinded by the light streaming in from the small hall.

"Your girl is here," Nate grumbled sleepily, moving so she could go into the room and going back to his own room.

"Lex?" Steve asked, confused as she turned on the bedroom light. She shut the door behind her, going over to sit on the bed next to him. "What's going on? Are you all right?"

"Um," she said hesitantly. "Yeah?" It came out sounding more like a question than an answer. "I, uh, got a 30 on my MCATs."

"Is that...good?" he asked; she nodded. "So, you came at three in the morning to tell me you nailed your MCATs?" She was quiet. "Babe, what's going on?" he asked worriedly.

"I didn't want to tell you on the phone," she started off saying. "And I knew you couldn't come up because of school. So I was just going to wait, but then I couldn't sleep..." She was talking super fast, which was something she did when she was upset.

"All right," he nodded, keeping calm on the outside but she was starting to scare him. "Well, you're here now." He reached over to stroke her hair. "You can tell me."

"I was going to stop at the pharmacy," she went on quickly. "But they're all closed."

"Are you sick?" he asked, confused. What was going on? She started crying.

"I'm late," she told him, wiping the tears away. "Really late, two weeks." Now that she had said it out loud, she was starting to panic. "And I mean, yeah, sure I knew we'd be here eventually. But not yet, not this soon. I can't be pregnant right now." She couldn't talk anymore as she started sobbing.

"Come here," he told her. He pulled back the blankets, allowing her to climb under them with him. He held her close while she kept crying into his chest. "Hey, it's all right." He kissed her forehead. "We'll be all right." He pulled back from her a little, wiping the tears off her cheeks. "Have I ever been wrong about us being ok before?"

"No," she sniffed; he kissed her gently.

"Then trust me," he assured her.

He wasn't so sure he trusted himself though, remaining wide awake after she had finally fallen asleep. A baby? He didn't know the first thing about being a dad. Everything would change starting tomorrow if it turned out she was pregnant. What would they do? They would have to move in together. Would they get married? Steve went through classes the next day in a daze. He couldn't concentrate on anything, all he could think about was getting back to the apartment where Alexia was waiting for him to come back. On his way to the apartment, stomach in knots, he stopped at the pharmacy to get her a pregnancy test. When he got back he found her sitting on his bed, reading.

"Steve," she said when he came in.

"Me first," he stopped her sitting next to her. "Ok?" She nodded. "I have no idea what's going to happen. I mean, I wasn't expecting...this."

"Babe-"

"Just let me finish," he said. "I've been freaking out all day. I'm not going to lie to you and pretend that it doesn't scare me too." She nodded. "But, the more I think about it, would it really be so bad and scary? This was all in the plan anyway, right? Just not this soon...or in this order I guess."

"Babe," she stopped him, smiling; he was being so sweet. "I really think I should talk now."

"I'm almost done," he assured her. "I want you to know that it's going to be ok. I'll be here, no matter what. You could move in. And, you remember my Uncle Joe? We were talking about jobs once I graduate, so there's that. And if you wanted, we could get married."

"Steve-"

"Or we could wait," he went on. "Or we could move back to Hawaii, or we could go live Boston and you could still go to school if you wanted. I just...wanted you to know it's really all right. So...I think that's all," he said. "Uh, your turn." She kissed him first.

"You are so good to me," she told him. "And I was so happy to hear you say all of those things. But...I'm not pregnant."

"What?" Steve asked, confused.

"After you left for class this morning," she started to explain. "I...wasn't late anymore." She smiled weakly. "I guess if I just waited one more day I wouldn't have come down here and freaked you out so bad."

"I wasn't freaking out that badly," he said, trying to brush it off though he did let out a sigh of relief.

"Baby," she said, laughing a little. "You're sweating." She reached for his hand. "We're ok."

"I know," he nodded, pulling her hand up and kissing it. "Come here." He pulled her close, the two of them laying together on his bed, grateful that things could remain the way they were for now.

"So," she said, tilting her head up at him. "What's the plan?"

"You wanna know?" he grinned at her; she nodded. "I'm looking at jobs at Naval Intelligence. So I'll be in Washington for awhile and you'll be in Boston." She stuck out her lip and made a sad face at him. "I know," he agreed. "But, then you'll be done with school. And, we can move in together. And..." He stopped to kiss her. "Other stuff."

"Other stuff?" she smiled at him; he grinned back.

"I can't give away everything."

February 1998

"Would you sit down?" Steve asked Alexia. She was pacing back and forth across the apartment. It was Saturday afternoon; Steve was sitting on the couch with Ethan, watching a hockey game. Being from Hawaii, Steve never really got into watching hockey, but since football season was over it was something to watch.

"You're making me nervous," Ethan nodded in agreement.

"Let her alone," Jill said from the kitchen counter. She was looking at the paper for apartment listings in Virginia. Since she had gotten accepted to law school at the University of Virginia, her and Ethan had planned to move in together. "You remember a few weeks ago when I was waiting for my letter?"

"Yeah, you were a real joy to be around," Ethan mumbled.

"Excuse me?"

"Love you," he smirked at her; Steve laughed, then looked to Alexia.

"Lex, it's going to be fine," he promised. "I'm sure you got in. Here." He nodded towards the pizza box on the coffee table that him and Ethan had been splitting. "Eat some pizza."

"I don't want to eat pizza," she groaned, sitting at the counter finally with Jill. "I want Emily to get back here with the mail."

"She probably stopped to flirt with that new guy downstairs," Jill told her. "Matt something or other."

"Why does she wanna go to Boston so bad?" Ethan asked quietly. "Aren't you gonna be working in Washington or something?" Steve nodded.

"It's where her parents met," Steve answered. Back at the counter, the girls were continuing their conversation about school.

"You've already heard back from other schools, right?" Jill asked; Alexia muttered something to herself. "What was that?"

"I didn't apply anywhere else," she repeated, laying her head on the counter; she couldn't believe she had done that.

"Why would you do that?" Steve asked; she turned around on her bar stool and glared at him.

"What happened to you being so sure I'd get in?" she asked with raised eye brows. Ethan nudged Steve's arm.

"Don't answer that," he warned. "Just play dead or something." Before they could continue arguing, Alexia jumped from her seat when she heard the door open. Emily was back, with a stack of envelopes and magazines in hand, with some guy she assumed was Matt.

"Hey everyone," she smiled, coming in to the apartment. "This is Matt from downstairs. Matt, this is Ethan," she said, pointing. "Steve. And these are my roommates Jill-"

"Give me," Alexia said, taking the mail from Emily. She had been on edge all week waiting to hear back from Boston University.

"And Alexia," Emily went on.

"It's not here," Alexia said, taking her seat back next to Jill and laying her head back down. She felt Steve's hand rubbing her back.

"It'll get here Monday," Steve told her. "You want a beer Matt?"

"Sure, thanks," he said. "Did you say your name was Alexia?" She kept her head on the counter, but nodded. "I think I got some of your mail the other day by mistake." She lifted her head up, glaring at him.

"What?" she asked, her teeth clenched.

"Yeah, like two or three days ago," he nodded. "I kept forgetting it on the counter. I think it happened because you guys are 301 and we're 103. Plus, my roommate's name is Alex." He laughed. "It's kind of funny."

"Hilarious," she said, completely unamused as she got up from the counter and quickly left the apartment.

"Where's she going?" Matt asked curiously.

"Your apartment," Steve answered, handing him a beer. With the next period of the game about to start, the guys all settled back on the couch to watch. Emily joined Jill in looking at the paper, pointing out apartments that she thought were nice. Moments later, Alexia came back into the apartment, letter in hand.

"Is that it?" Steve asked, coming over to where the girls were. Alexia had set the letter on the counter and was staring at it.

"Mhmm," she nodded, continuing to stare.

"Well," he said. "Aren't you going to open it?" She shook her head. "Are you kidding me?"

"I can't," she shook her head. "Not yet. I'm nervous." Steve shook his head at her, taking the letter from the counter to open it. "Steve!" He waved her off as he started reading it.

"Aw man," he sighed.

"What?" she asked anxiously. "Is it bad?"

"Yeah," Steve nodded sadly. "Do you know how much money I'll be spending on gas driving up to Boston to see you?" Alexia's mouth dropped open.

"What?" she asked, stunned.

"You got in babe," he grinned at her. Next, Alexia let out a high pitched squeal which made every one else either jump or cover their ears as she jumped up to hug Steve. "I'm proud of you."

Alexia knew it was going to be harder now that they were further away from each other, but she also knew that it was ok. They would try to see each other as often as they could. And, in any case, they were both going to be super busy. It almost worked out better this way because with both of them being so busy because they would understand and not feel neglected. Everything was working out just like it was supposed to.

Author's note: hope you liked it! the next chapter i think is going to be post-medschool and when things start to be a little less perfect. thanks for reading and let me know what you think! :)