The way that Allison handled her most recent heart break surprised her. Usually, after a confrontation like that, she would turn to self-destructive habits like drinking and casual sex, but this time that wasn't the case. She felt drained and confused and spent an entire week alone in her apartment, only leaving her bed to use the bathroom or find food. Which was kind of self-destructive in its own little way.

Steve had given her a lot of information to process and his parting words had been echoing through her mind all week. She was confused, angry, still hurt and, if she was being completely honest, a little scared. After wracking her brain, trying to think of anyone she knew who would have any reason at all the threaten her, she was still drawing a blank. She had so many unanswered questions, but she just couldn't bring herself to reach out to the only man she knew would be able to help. So after almost dialing Steve's number at least five times, she settled for the next best thing.

"Hello?" He answered on the first ring.

"Tanner, hey. It's Ally." She smiled, happy to hear a familiar voice.

"Hey! What's up?"

"Well..." Allison hesitated, knowing anything she asked about Steve would raise plenty of questions. "I'm just wondering what Steve told you after we slept together. You know, about why he never called me."

"Nothing," Tanner replied simply.

"Really? Come on, you're his best friend..." She said, her tone conveying her obvious suspicions.

"I know that, but really. He just said he had his reasons and that he was dealing with it."

Allison sighed. That definitely sounded like something Steve would say.

"And that didn't seem weird to you?" She asked, hoping to squeeze a little more information out of him.

"Sure it did," Tanner admitted. "But a lot of the stuff Steve gets involved with seems weird to me. If I questioned everything, our whole friendship would just be me interrogating him. Anyway, why the sudden interest?"

"I may or may not have had dinner with a certain navy seal the other night," Allison admitted reluctantly. "And he may or may not have told me that the reason he never called me was because someone was threatening to hurt me if he continued to see me."

There was silence on the other end and Allison waited patiently for the reaction.

"So you have some kind of crazy stalker?"

That's when all hell broke loose. Allison could hear Macy shriek in the background and there was commotion as she snatched the phone.

"Allison, explain. Right now." Macy demanded.

"It's nothing to get excited about, Mace." Ally said, smiling at her friend's protective nature. "I found out that Steve was having someone follow me – thanks for that, by the way – and I wanted to know why. He manipulated me into coming over for dinner, he shoved his tongue down my throat and when I pushed him away, demanding an explanation for why he never called me, he said that he did it to protect me because someone was sending him threats."

"He kissed you?!" Macy shrieked again, causing Allison to roll her eyes.

"Yes, he did, but make no mistake. I still don't like the guy." She clarified.

"I know, I know. I wouldn't expect you to get over it that easily. But what about this stalker? What did he say?"

"Nothing," Allison sighed. "I don't think he knows who it was."

"I know you don't want to hear this, but you need to call him. Right now. And find out everything he knows." Macy instructed, her tone leaving no room for arguments. However, diligently following directions wasn't Allison's strong point.

"What? Are you crazy, Macy?" She asked. "He knew he wasn't going to pursue our relationship before we had sex, but conveniently didn't tell me that just to get into my pants."

"Yeah, yeah. And that was wrong." Macy agreed. "But what if your life's in danger, Al? You need to get some answers. Call him. Or I'll do it for you."

Allison knew her friend was right. Her worry and confusion would only go away if she got some answers. So after agreeing with her friend and saying a quick goodbye, Allison hung up and opened a text message to Steve.

When Allison arrived at the cafe that she had demanded Steve meet her at, he was already sitting at a table. Two drinks sat in front of him, one of which just happened to be Allison's favourite. She rolled her eyes at his attempt to win her over and marched over, sitting down quickly.

"We have to make this quick," She informed him. "I have to go job hunting this afternoon."

Steve nodded and pushed one of the drinks towards her.

"It's your favourite."

"I can see that, thanks." She mumbled, sipping the drink. "So, down to business. Who was sending the threats about me?"

"I don't know," Steve admitted. "I was going to track him down, even had a few army buddies try and track where they were sent from, but then I got deployed again and things got pushed aside."

"Wait," Allison stared at him in disbelief. "So out there somewhere is someone who sent you threats about me, possibly endangering my life, and you got busy and 'pushed it aside'?!"

Steve sighed, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table.

"The threats stopped, Ally." He waited for her to correct him about her name, but was pleased when she didn't. "Even if I had all the time in the world, there was no way to track the guy."

"But what if he's still out there?"

"It's possible," Steve shrugged. "But he obviously wasn't going to cause you any trouble without me around and whoever it is, is probably still back in California and has no idea that you're here now."

"But if he's stalking me, he probably would know that I'm here now." She pointed out. "Isn't that like 'stalker 101'? Knowing where your victim is?"

Steve cracked a smile, noting how adorable Allison looked as she chewed nervously on her straw.

"Possibly. Just keep your eyes open for anyone who looks suspicious, and let me know if you get any suspicious gifts or calls."

"But...you think I'm safe?" She asked, looking at him in a way that reminded him of a child. He smiled again and cautiously placed his hand over hers.

"Ally, I promise. I'm not going to let anyone hurt you."

His aim was to reassure her, but instead she simply rolled her eyes and pulled her hand away.

"Really, Steven? Because usually when people don't want to hurt other people, they don't lead them on, sleep with them and then never call them again."

Steve groaned, resting his head on the back of the chair for a moment. His eyes were closed and it was obvious he was trying to hide his frustrations.

"Allison, I'm sorry." He said once again.

"Yeah, I'm sorry too." She replied without missing a beat. "I'm sorry you're such an asshole."

Steve took a breath and Allison was well aware she was pushing his buttons. A moment later, he leaned forward to once again rest on the table.

"I meant what I said the other night, Ally." He said, ignoring her comment. "I loved you. And I still have feelings for you and I know you still have feelings for me."

"Oh yeah, lots of feelings," Allison nodded. "Anger, sadness, distrust, a hefty dose of dislike-"

"Affection?" Steve threw in, a look of hope briefly passing across his face.

Allison looked down, suddenly focusing more on stirring her drink than on Steve.

"You kind of broke my heart, Steven." Allison said, hoping she sounded more confident than she felt. "I'm not the kind of girl who just forgets about that."

Just as Steve was about to respond, his phone rang. He checked the caller I.D and reluctantly answered. Allison could only hear one side of the conversation, but from what Steve was saying they had been called in for a case and 'Danno' was not happy about it due to someone named 'Grace'. Once the conversation was over, Steve sighed and stood up.

"You said you needed a job?" Aliison nodded. "Well I have one for you."

Before Allison could accept or refuse his offer, Steve began walking away. She took a minute to decide whether it would be best to just walk out the other exit and never talk to him again, but chose otherwise and followed him out to his truck.